Gold will likely gain in the domestic market after it witnessed buying on falling to a six-month low. However, any rise in the Indian rupee could cap the gains.
In the global market, the dollar’s rise against a basket of currencies will check gold’s march from the bottom seen in the last six months. A higher dollar always leads to a fall in gold prices.
But in India, a rise in the dollar will result in the yellow metal gaining. This is because a strong dollar makes import of commodities such as gold, crude oil and vegetable oil costlier.
In early trade at Singapore, spot gold traded at $1,614.05 an ounce, while gold for April delivery ruled at $1,614.70.
With the rupee rising, gold for jewellery (99.5 per cent purity) in the domestic market dropped to Rs 29,860 for 10 gm, while pure gold (99.9 per cent purity) slipped to 29,995.
Soyabean, crude palm oil
Oils and oilseeds market is likely to be range-bound with the benchmark Chicago Board of Trade being closed for holiday on Monday.
Still, CBOT soyabean for April was quoted at $14.33 a bushel, while on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange crude palm oil May contracts closed higher at 2,539 ringgit ($820) a tonne.
Grains were quoted stable in early trade with wheat for April delivery ruling at $7.48 a bushel and corn (industrial maize) at $6.95 a bushel.
Crude oil
Crude oil is likely to be rangebound with Brent futures ruling steady and NYMEX slipping. In early trade, Brent crude for April contract quoted up at $117.49 a barrel and NYMEX crude ruled lower at $96.17.