Gold futures surged in the domestic market

Gold futures surged in the domestic market on Thursday as investors and speculators booked fresh positions in the precious metal after minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s latest meet signaled that policymakers are willing to keep interest rates near zero for a longer period as risks such as a stronger dollar and the Greek crisis, overshadow a strong US labour market recovery, bolstering the appeal of the bullion as a store of value.

Most policymakers “indicated that their assessment of the balance of risks associated with the timing of the beginning of policy normalization had inclined them toward” keeping rates near zero “for a longer time”, the minutes showed, as the Fed stuck to its pledge of being “patient” over hiking short-term borrowing costs. At the MCX, Gold futures for April 2015 contract is trading at Rs 26,428 per 10 gram, up by 1.11 per cent after opening at Rs 26,245, against the previous closing price of Rs 26,137. It touched the intra-day high of Rs 26,480 till the closing.