Gold prices fell to its three-month low, on Wednesday, after the latest US FOMC minutes, released on Tuesday showed that the Fed may not resort to further quantitative easing. The ongoing strike by jewellers in India, biggest buyer of physical gold, has also hit gold in the recent weeks

Gold prices fell to its three-month low, on Wednesday, after the latest US Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes, released on late Tuesday afternoon showed that the Fed may not resort to further quantitative easing. Experts say that the ongoing strike by jewellers in India, biggest buyer of physical gold, has also hit gold in the recent weeks. Gold fell by 2.6% to $1,628.10 an ounce, a new low since 22nd March and Silver fell by 4.1 % to $31.90 an ounce.

Prithviraj Kothari, managing director, RiddiSiddhi Bullions, says, “Indian physical demand has been light here. Most Indian jewellery shops were in the third week of a “strike” to protest higher import duties, and this loss of demand has been cited as a factor weighing down gold lately. The Indian strike situation will prove detrimental to the local physical market the longer it drags on, as a combination of reduced sales and falling gold prices will make it all the more harder for demand to pick up from where it left it.” The precious metal, earlier, has witnessed a fall after the Federal policy was announced.

On 29 February 2012, when the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, told Congress he saw potential inflationary pressures from rising gasoline prices, the price of gold fell nearly $100 an ounce. On 28th February this year, with the June contract hitting a three-month high of $1,795.10, gold rallied on the talks that Fed would announce further quantitative easing.