Gold is bankable, shines more than some western banks

Chennai, March 20

Gold has turned into a more bankable asset and its prices going up as several American banks are going down, say experts.

On Monday, the yellow metal shone brighter at the markets with gold at the MCX crossing the Rs 60,000 mark.

"Gold prices have risen almost 7-8 per cent in the past month. The rally in the yellow metal is primarily due to the banking crisis in the west. The liquidity infused by the central banks and the expectations of lower to no rate hikes is pushing gold prices up. Gold is a safe haven, historically it has gained in periods of uncertainty," Colin Shah, MD, Kama Jewelry, said.

Gold prices hitting a fresh high is a sign of slower economic growth and lower interest rates with ample liquidity to help the system steer of the current situation.

According to Shah, the current situation globally may take some time to clear out. Globally, central banks have been adding gold reserves.

"We expect gold to gain further and touch new highs in the next few months. Domestically, it is expected to trade in the range of Rs 61,000-62,000/10gm. Internationally, it may scale levels of $2,050-2100/oz," he added.

Navneet Damani, Senior VP, Commodity Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said: "Bullions continue surge, with gold on domestic front hitting a new life time high of over Rs 60,000, as a wave of banking crises shook global markets and put bullion on track for its biggest weekly rise in three years, while bets solidified for a less aggressive Fed in its fight against inflation.

"The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the US has highlighted banks' vulnerabilities to sharply higher rates, while a rout in Credit Suisse shares has added to the market turmoil. On other hand, after ECB announced a 50bps rate hike last week, all eyes are now on Fed's policy meeting scheduled later this week.

"Fed is expected to raise rates by 25bps, however probability for a pause is increasing sharply supporting the move in safe haven assets. Over the weekend, there were quite a updates regarding the US banking concerns which slightly weighed on the safe haven assets. UBS agreed to buy 167-year-old Credit Suisse for $3.23 billion and assume up to $5.4 billion in losses in a deal backed by a massive Swiss guarantee and expected to close by the end of 2023. Meanwhile, major central banks including Fed, ECB, BOJ, BOE announced a co-ordinated central bank action to enhance liquidity via USD-Swap line. These updates are likely to keep the volatility high."

"Broader trend on COMEX could be in the range of $1985- 2015 and on domestic front prices could hover in the range of Rs 59,800�60,600 could be expected," Damani added.