Gold plummets 5.89% during previous week

Gold prices dipped 5.89 per cent during the previous week, over successive sessions of profit booking and stronger dollar. Precious metals are set to enter this week under visible pressure, following a sharp corrective phase amid mixed signals from ongoing Middle East geopolitical developments, analysts said.

While safe-haven demand had earlier supported the rally, recent volatility has impacted investors’ sentiment, they added. Israel’s strikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field and Iran’s retaliatory attacks on energy infrastructure across Gulf nations, has pushed crude oil and natural gas prices, raising the possibility of imported inflation globally.

The US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Canada, and the Bank of England indicated a cautious-to-hawkish approach indicating higher or unchanged interest rates going ahead.