Battle of assets: Gold hits all-time high of ₹1.07 lakh on MCX, up 50% in a year, while equities sink in past year's performance

Gold prices touched an all-time high as it opened at ₹1,07,456 per 10 grams in Ahmedabad on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) on Thursday. In international markets, gold futures are trading around $3,584 per troy ounce as of 10:45 am IST.

Gold has experienced a significant rally over the past year, yielding returns of over 50% between September 9, 2024, and September 8, 2025, to the benefit of investors. During the period, the price jumped from ₹71,000 per 10 grams to ₹1,07,000 on the MCX.

On January 1, 2025, the gold rates were hovering around ₹76,308. This shows that year to date (YTD), gold has generated a return of around 40.7%, which is remarkable in itself. While looking at other asset classes, the Nifty50 only generated a 4.5% return YTD and has remained negative in the past year. In fact, BSE Sensex generated a return of 3% YTD and has remained negative over the past year, still down by 1%.

Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities Ltd, says, "Gold continued their upward momentum last week, with gold touching a fresh record high and silver scaling a 14-year peak in global markets."  He said that disappointing U.S. job numbers heightened expectations of a Fed rate cut, providing strong support for both metals. "The U.S. non-farm payrolls showed only 22,000 new jobs against forecasts of 75,000, while the unemployment rate climbed to 4.3% in August, largely due to the impact of higher trade tariffs," said Kalantri.

Analysts say growing global uncertainties and a weakening dollar index further fuelled safe-haven demand, while a weaker rupee lent additional support to gold and silver in domestic markets.

Darshan Desai, CEO - Aspect Bullion & Refinery, said, "Ongoing policy uncertainties, developments related to tariffs, and questions surrounding the Fed’s future independence are likely to continue supporting the gold market. In addition, steady central bank purchases remain a key driver. Looking ahead, the upcoming inflation data later this week is expected to be the most significant near-term catalyst for bullion prices."