By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 -- The gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended lower today on lack of buying interest, an analyst said.

Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd trader Tan Jenn Yuan attributed the market’s performance to expectations of further monetary easing by central banks to support the economy. 

“However, investors may still be shifting to gold for safety amidst the COVID-19 pandemic,” he told Bernama. 

At the close, new spot month April 2020 fell 36 ticks to RM218.70 per gramme.

May 2020, June 2020 and July 2020 contracted 40 ticks each to RM219.00, RM219.10 and RM219.15 per gramme, respectively. 

Volume remained at one lot worth RM21,870, compared with one lot worth RM22,600 on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, open interest declined to 125 contracts from 127 contracts yesterday. 

At 5pm, the price of physical gold was down 49 sen at RM215.48 per gramme.

-- BERNAMA