Domestic gold prices were down on Friday as the dollar index ticked higher, and US Treasury yields rose to multi-year highs following strong labour market data and hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials, denting the bullion's appeal.

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On MCX, yellow metal rates were nearly 0.5 percent down at Rs 49,909 per 10 grams. Meanwhile, Silver rates dropped by almost 1 percent to Rs 56,130 per kg.

Manoj Kumar Jain, Head-Commodity and Currency Research at Prithvi Finmart, expects gold and silver to remain volatile in today’s session amid volatility in the dollar index. He said, "Gold could hold its support level of $1622 per troy ounce and silver could also hold $18 per troy ounce levels."

Jain also suggested buying gold around Rs 50,000 with a stop loss of Rs 47,770 for the target of Rs 50,500.

The drop in metal prices came as the dollar index surged 0.1 percent higher in early trade on Friday. Around 11 am, US Dollar Index Futures were nearly 0.2 percent up at 113.023.

Meanwhile, Indian equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 saw cautious gains on Friday, as weakness in metal and IT stocks offset strength in financial and oil & gas stocks.

Moreover, oil prices were near flat on Friday, as market participants weighed concerns about steep inflation with optimism that China could see energy demand tick up. Brent crude futures lost 5 cents to trade at $92.33 a barrel by 00:02 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate futures rose 7 cents to trade at $84.58 a barrel.

First Published:Oct 21, 2022 11:45 AM IST