Precious metals rally, base metals hang on bearish bias

Gold and silver ended Thursday’s trading session near its day’s highs after the US federal reserve announced a 25 bpd rate hike in a widely anticipated move. Gold traded at 1308.50, up 0.55 percent whereas silver was at 17.15, up 0.97 percent towards the end of trading.

While the rate hike was already factored into the markets, the tone weighed on the dollar index which was in reference to the number of rate hikes this year, which according to the dot plot, now stands at four.

the potential upside, persistent weakness in the dollar index and rising inflation are believed to likely push gold higher to $1320 or $1330 in the near future.

Silver which has gained in six of the previous seven sessions is expected to approach mid-April resistance levels at $17.20 this week.
Base metals on the other hand traded on a weaker note as the lack of fresh catalysts continued to keep prices in a range. Nickel was down 2.38 percent to trade at 15285 while Copper was down 0.63 percent to trade at 7194.25.

According to Chinese customs data, imports of unwrought copper climbed to 475,000 in May, up 22 percent year on year to its highest level in 17 months, whereas imports during January and May reached 21.5 million tonnes, up 16.7 percent year on year.

of ores and concentrates were also up 14 percent in the period.
The sharp jump in imports has been Beijing’s decision to ban the import of certain types of Copper scrap which was announced in April.