Gold Futures At 11 Month Low, Dollar At 11 Month High

Bottom Fishing Likely In Today's Session

Gold futures ended at their lowest level in nearly 11 months Wednesday as the U.S. dollar strengthened, losing ground for an eighth straight session and tying a seven-year record for a string of losses. Gold for December delivery fell $29.50, or 3.7%, to $762.50 an ounce on COMEX, the lowest closing level since Oct. 24, 2007.

MCX benchmark Gold contract also crushed hard in the intra day session and went on to touch a low of 11306 and closed the session at Rs 11343 per 10 grams down Rs 211. After the last session carnage Gold is likely to take a tick upwards, as traders will look for the opportunities of bottom fishing. The prices can see levels of 11426 in today’s session with Supports at 11300 and 11220 levels.

The dollar touched a fresh 11-month high against the euro just above the 1.40-level and held steady near 2 ½-year highs versus the pound at 1.7540. The greenback continues to remain favored amid burgeoning fears of rapidly deteriorating economic fundamentals, which consequently sent crude oil to an intra-day low at $101.43 per barrel. Also propping the dollar higher was the announcement from Lehman Brothers to sell off parts of its business to shore up its balance sheet, thereby tempering market jitters in the interim.

Traders will look ahead to US economic reports slated for release today, consisting of the July trade deficit, weekly jobless claims and the August Federal Budget. Consensus estimates expect the trade deficit to edge higher to $58 billion in July, versus a $56.77 billion deficit from the previous month. Weekly jobless claims are seen little changed at 440k versus 444k from the prior week. Meanwhile, the Federal Budget is forecasted to shrink to $106.2 billion for August, compared with $117.0 billion a month earlier.