Gold, Silver Slump For 3rd Day In Futures Trade On Easing US-China Trade Tensions

Gold and silver futures declined for the third straight session on Tuesday, even as operations of commodity bourse MCX were hit due to a technical glitch resulting in the late start of the trading.

Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) in a statement clarified that due to a technical issue, the commencement of trading on Tuesday was delayed.

"Operations were shifted to the Disaster Recovery (DR) site, and trading started at 1.25 pm. All trading systems are now functioning normally," MCX said.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), the December contract of gold dropped by Rs 2,214, or 1.83 per cent, to Rs 1,18,743 per 10 grams in a turnover of 13,086 lots.

The February 2026 contract plunged by Rs 2,650, or 2.17 per cent, to Rs 1,19,649 per 10 grams in 1,953 lots.

The most-traded December contract had hit a record high of Rs 1,32,294 per 10 grams on October 17. Since then, gold futures tanked by Rs 13,794 per 10 grams or 10.43 per cent.

Silver futures for the December delivery also dropped by Rs 2,181, or 1.52 per cent, to Rs 1,41,186 per kg in a business volume of 20,372 lots.

The March 2026 contract depreciated by Rs 2,289, or 1.58 per cent, to Rs 1,42,757 per kg in 5,615 lots.

Silver has decreased by Rs 29,874 per kg, or 17.53 per cent, from its record of Rs 1,70,415 per kg on October 17.

Earlier, trading activity on the MCX was disrupted for several hours due to a major technical glitch, leading to multiple delays in the start of the session and causing uncertainty among market participants.

In the international market, Comex gold futures for December delivery dropped by USD 98.06, or 2.44 per cent, to USD 3,921.64 per ounce, marking the third consecutive day of decline.

"Gold prices dropped to USD 3,920 per ounce level due to reduced safe-haven demand after encouraging developments in US-China trade negotiations," Jigar Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, said.

Meanwhile, top officials from both Washington and Beijing on Sunday announced a framework agreement on tariffs and other key issues during talks in Malaysia, paving the way for President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to finalise the deal later this week in South Korea.

Comex silver futures for December delivery was trading 2.34 per cent lower at USD 45.68 per ounce.

Trivedi added that investors shifted their attention to the upcoming US Federal Reserve policy decision. The Fed is widely expected to lower rates by 25 basis points, after last week's softer-than-expected inflation data.