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Gold prices rallied by Rs 1,100 to hit a fresh peak of Rs 92,150 per 10 grams in the national capital on Friday amid rise in precious metal rates in the overseas markets, according to the All India Sarafa Association. The precious metal of 99.9 per cent purity had finished at Rs 91,050 per 10 grams on Thursday. In FY25, gold prices have increased by Rs 23,730 or 35 per cent from Rs 68,420 per 10 grams on April 1 last year. Continuing the momentum for the third straight session, gold of 99.5 per cent purity jumped by Rs 1,100 to hit a lifetime high of Rs 91,700 per 10 grams. It had concluded at Rs 90,600 per 10 grams in the previous market close. "Gold prices continues the bullish momentum and set a new record high on Friday. The gold rise is being driven by the fear of an escalating global trade war and its implications for economic development," Saumil Gandhi, Senior Analyst of Commodities at HDFC Securities, said. Silver prices surged by Rs 1,300 to trade near a record high at Rs 1,03,000 per kg against Thursday's closing level of Rs 1,01,700 per kg. On March 19, the white metal prices hit a record high of Rs 1,03,500 per kg. Meanwhile, gold futures for April delivery appreciated by Rs 542 to Rs 88,926 per 10 grams on the Multi Commodity Exchange. "Gold prices continued to trade higher in the spot market as tariff concerns persisted, keeping buying interest intact," Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst - Commodity and Currency at LKP Securities, said. With the April 2 reciprocal tariffs approaching, US President Donald Trump is expected to impose them across all trade deals, further fuelling uncertainty, Trivedi added. On the global front, spot gold surged to hit a record high of USD 3,086.08 per ounce. Also, Comex gold futures hit yet another peak of USD 3,124.40 per ounce. According to Kotak Securities, Comex gold futures surged to a record high driven by escalating trade war anxieties as President Trump's auto import tariffs and threats of further levies against the EU and Canada intensified safe-haven demand. Gold prices have increased by about 8.2 per cent this month supported by geopolitical tensions and robust central bank purchases, the brokerage firm said in a note. Spot silver in the Asian market hours was trading flat at USD 34.42 per ounce. In addition, Comex silver futures rose 0.7 per cent to USD 35.33 per ounce. Traders said growing uncertainty over the economic fallout from these tariffs is further amplifying market volatility, as the levies are expected to fuel inflation and slow global economic growth, strengthening demand for the precious metal. Abans Financial Services' Chief Executive Officer Chintan Mehta said, "Investors are awaiting speeches from multiple Federal Reserve officials for insights into the central bank's monetary policy outlook this week. Additionally, market participants will also closely monitor the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data, to be release later on Friday, as it is the US Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge and a key indicator for its next policy moves, Mehta added.

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday said that exchanges will monitor a minimum of four position limits for index derivatives intraday from April 1, 2025 while clarifying that a breach of existing position limits will not be a violation amounting to a penalty.It has also directed BSE and NSE to jointly prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) intimating the market participants regarding modalities of monitoring existing notional position limits intraday. The exchanges will also have to intimate clients/trading members about the breaches for their risk monitoring.In a December 30, 2024 circular, Sebi had directed the stock exchanges and clearing corporations to start intraday monitoring of positions in addition to the 'End of Day' monitoring mechanism . "The position limits, for equity index derivative contracts, would also be monitored on an intraday basis from April 01, 2025," the then circular said.For this purpose, Sebi mandated stock exchanges to consider minimum 4 position snapshots during the day. The number of snapshots may be decided by the respective stock exchanges subject to a minimum of 4 snapshots in a day. The snapshots would be randomly taken during pre-defined time windows.The December circular had made provisions for a penalty structure for the breach. The existing framework of penalty structure for breach of end of day position limit was to be extended by exchanges for intraday position limit breaches as well.Industry associations like Association of National Exchanges Members of India (ANMI), Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers' Forum (BBF) and Commodity Participants Association of India (CPAI) raised concerns pertaining to the readiness of systems at the end of stock brokers and their clients to monitor existing position limits intraday for index derivatives.Moreover, the concern of industry associations was also that the market ecosystem is in the process of putting in place necessary systems keeping in mind the proposed delta based or futures equivalent limits for index derivatives as stated in the Sebi consultation paper of February 24.Accordingly, in the interim, implementing systems for existing position limits that are based on notional activity of client / trading members could put additional strain on the market participants, they had argued.The market regulator on Thursday proposed to limit the expiries of all equity derivatives contracts of an exchange to one of either Tuesdays or Thursdays. This is with a view to provide optimal spacing between expiries across exchanges while avoiding choice of either the first day of the week or the last day as an expiry day.Also Read: Sebi proposes to limit F&O expiry for exchanges to either Tuesday or ThursdayFollowing this, NSE deferred implementation of F&O expiry for Monday that was due to take effect from Tuesday, April 4.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)