Gold and silver prices remain steady in India after duty increase

Demand for precious metals in India, the world’s biggest buyer of bullion, did not pick up as traders, still unable to digest the price increases after an import duty hike earlier this week, remained on the sidelines. Gold and silver prices were steady.

Indian gold futures were flat as support from firm overseas markets was offset by a stronger rupee back home.

The most-active gold for February delivery on theMulti Commodity Exchange(MCX) was 0.07% higher at Rs27,495 per 10 grams.

“Gold market is pretty slow as people are not able to digest the duty increases and the same is for silver,” said Ketan Shroff, director at Pushpak Bullions, a precious metals wholesaler in Mumbai.

The government raised the import duty on bullion to 2% on value from the previous flat rate of Rs300 per 10 grams, and to 6% on value from Rs1,500 per kilogram on silver.

Spot gold edged higher on Thursday, on course for a fourth session of gains.

The rupee, which strengthened for a sixth consecutive session on Thursday to hover around a two-month high, plays an important role in determining the landed cost of the dollar-quoted yellow metal.

Silver for March delivery on the MCX was 0.52% higher at Rs53,706 per kg.

Tags: price of silver, Silver, silver analysis, silver futures, silver futures prices, silver news, silver price, silver prices, silver spot, spot silver

Posted by Silver Guru on Jan 19 2012. Filed under Silver Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry