Trade with Commodities: Gold price crosses Rs 13K mark, may touch Rs 15K

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Gold price crosses Rs 13K mark, may touch Rs 15K

MUMBAI: The bull run in bullion continued with gold price rising to a new high at Rs 13,000 mark here on Friday.

Gold prices could touch Rs 15,000 mark this year, a top bullion industry official said.

The standard gold opened at Rs 13,035 in the Mumbai bullion market and Rs 13,160 in the Kolkata bullion markets. The yellow metal hit an all-time high of USD 1,000 an ounce in the US.

"The gold price has scaled to a new high in both national and international markets. Prices may react in the near future to Rs 12,500, but overall the bullish trend may continue and its price may touch the USD 1,200 per ounce and Rs 15,000 per 10 grams in 2008," Riddhisiddhi Bullion Ltd Director Prithviraj Kothari said here today.

The likely 0.5 per cent rate cut by Fed next week has already been discounted in the current price, Kothari said.

"Gold demand has come down drastically and revival in demand may start only when the price reacts. The price may come down to Rs 12,700 per 10 grams in the near future and may scale up to Rs 13,500 by March-end," Bombay Bullion Association President Suresh Hundia said.

India imported around 10.2 tonnes of gold in February and only five tonnes in January as compared with 52 tonnes and 56 tonnes respectively, a year ago. India imports around 800 tonnes of gold, which account for 20 per cent of the world's gold consumption.