Kathmandu, May 27

Gold price went up marginally, while silver price surged by nearly two per cent in the week between May 21 and 26.

Despite see-sawing in the beginning of the week, gold price remained steady towards the end of the week, with the dollar slipping after minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting downplayed the chance of more aggressive interest rate hikes. The minutes showed policymakers agreed they should hold off on raising interest rates until it was clear a recent US economic slowdown was temporary, although most said a hike was coming soon.

Higher interest rates tend to boost the dollar, which is inversely proportional to gold.

Meanwhile, gold demand in Asia tapered off this week as buyers took to the sidelines in India, the world’s second biggest consumer of the yellow metal, to await new national tax policy and as China entered a seasonal slowdown.

The new goods and services tax (GST) will replace a slew of federal and state levies from July 1, but the Indian government has yet to fix a tax rate for gold under GST. The government is likely to finalise the tax rate for gold on June 3. Anticipating higher tax rates, many jewellers have been buying gold in the last few months, and this could mean India’s imports are set to plunge during the usual period of peak demand in the second half of the year, according to media reports.

In China, the world’s top consumer of gold, demand for the yellow metal has weakened as May to June is usually a quiet period for jewellers. But traders said they expect festive buying will boost demand in August and September.

Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association (FeNeGoSiDA) had fixed the price of gold at Rs 54,600 per tola on Sunday. On Monday, the price of the precious yellow metal dipped by Rs 100 a tola to be traded at Rs 54,500 per tola. On Tuesday, gold price surged by Rs 500 a tola to Rs 55,000 per tola, but shed most of the gain the very next day as bullion price fell by Rs 300 a tola to Rs 54,700 per tola. The price of the yellow metal remained unchanged on Thursday and Friday.

Meanwhile, the price of silver had been fixed at Rs 755 a tola by FeNeGoSiDA on Sunday and its price remained the same the next day. On Tuesday, the price of the white metal surged by Rs 15 per tola to be traded at Rs 770 a tola. Silver price dipped by five rupees per tola to be priced at Rs 765 a tola on Wednesday, but recovered the loss the very next day by edging up by five rupees per tola to Rs 770 a tola. The price of the white metal held steady on Friday.