India gold up on foreign cues, strong rupee caps gains

MUMBAI May 5 (Reuters) - Indian gold futures were higher on Tuesday tracking firm overseas markets due to a weaker dollar, and firm oil prices but a stronger local currency capped the gains, analysts said.

More gains were likely during the session, they added.

"The bigger push will come from the weak U.S. dollar as gold moves inversely to it," said Subodh Gupta, an analyst at Anand Rathi Commodities.

Oil prices softened on Tuesday after reaching their highest level in 2009 on Monday.

"If near-month gold MAUM9 breaks 14,520 rupees per 10 grams, it could aim for 14,700 rupees today," he said.

Another analyst said the technical charts were also pointing to an upward move in the near term.

"At the first look of it, charts are biased for an northward move, but gains could be restricted if stock markets extend their gains," said Pradeep Unni, senior analyst at Richcomm Global Services.

There was a good possibility of June gold inching towards 14,577 as the session progresses, and further strength could be ascertained only it breaks and holds above this level, he said.

On Monday, June gold on Multi-Commodity Exchange of India saw a traded volume of 40.93 kg, while open interest for the contract was 14,884 lots, slightly higher than 14,868 a session earlier.

Following are gold prices in rupees per 10 grams on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. at 12:01 p.m. <0#MAU:>:

Contract Current price Net change

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June 14,463 +30

Aug 14,461 +25 For a technical look at gold double click:

www.reutersindia.net/gold.htm

(Reporting by Ruchira Singh & Sourav Mishra; editing by Sunil Nair)