Gold had touched a record high of Rs 40,695 per tola on March 7.[break] But the prices had started falling, following earthquake and tsunami in Japan. But the price rallied in both domestic and international market with the Libyan unrest continuing to take new course.
Tej Ratna Shakya, president of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers´ Association, said the upward movement in gold price is likely to continue in the domestic market as the situation in the Middle East is showing no sign of improvement. “Price had started to go down after Japan started selling gold this week. It have gone down further had the crisis in Libya not worsened,” added Shakya.
According to the association, rising price of the yellow metal in the domestic market has caused the daily demand to fall down to 25 per kg. Business volume too has dropped by almost 50 percent this year as compared to the last year.
Heavy rise in gold prices is also resulting to a new trend of people going for refined jewelries instead of new ones.
“If the political unrest in the Middle East didn´t improve, price of precious metal is expected to rise further,” said Shakya.
Gold traders say the price of gold would have become cheaper in the domestic market had there been no hassles in purchasing gold from banks.
“Because of this, traders are compelled to purchase gold from smugglers,” he said. Shakya also said rise in gold price in the domestic market also has something to do with illegal trading, which is growing massively in recent times. He, however, expects the procedures of purchasing gold from banks to become flexible in the coming days.
Meanwhile, price of silver dropped Rs 994 per tola on Sunday. Silver had earlier touched a record high of Rs 1,012 per tola last Monday.
Related story
One dies after slipping from the Rupse waterfalls
