Despite drop in gold price in the international bullion market, price of the yellow metal remained unchanged in the domestic market this week. Traders say the price remained unchanged as the government raised customs duty on gold.[break]
Currency
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had set the exchange rate of US dollar at Rs 86.18 when trading opened on Sunday. Though rupee remained unchanged on Monday, it weakened by 12 paisa on Tuesday and another 9 paisa on Wednesday.
According to agencies, Reserve Bank of India -- the Indian monetary authority -- lowered benchmark repurchase rate to 7.75 percent from 8 percent on Tuesday and said cooling inflation will give some room to ease policy further. It made positive impact in the currency market and rupee bounced back, gaining 68 paisa on Thursday and another 38 paisa on Friday when the market closed at Rs 85.43.
However, Nepali rupee lost 24 paisa against Euro but gained 79 paisa against British Pound over the week. On Friday a Euro was valued Rs 115.85, whereas a British Pound was exchanged at Rs 135.29.
Bullion
Gold price remained unchanged this week despite price drop on Friday. Trading opened this week with gold priced at Rs 49,555 per 10 grams on Sunday. The price increased to Rs 49,725 per 10 grams on Monday despite drop in prices in international bullion market.
Traders say gold became dearer in the domestic market despite drop in international prices because of the rise in customs duty on yellow metal by the government. In a bid to control smuggling of gold to India, the government last week raised customs duty on gold to Rs 3,500 per tola (11.6638 grams) from Rs 2,682 per tola. The government took the decision after India raised customs duty on gold to 6 percent from 4 percent effective from last week.
Meanwhile, price of silver went down by Rs 4 per 10 grams over the week. On Friday, Silver was traded at Rs 947.50 per 10 grams on Friday.
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