Kathmandu, December 3

Precious metals lost the shine witnessed in the beginning of the trading week by the end of the week — between November 27 and December 2.

“The market is facing a lot of pressure from the United States, particularly with bond yields rising and the dollar so strong,” according to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association.

Figures from athe ADP Research Institute on Wednesday showed private employers in the United States added 216,000 workers in November, the most in five months.

On Friday, however, the dollar fell across the board after posting gains in the last three weeks as a solid, but not spectacular, US non-farm payrolls report spurred doubts about the path of rate increases next year.

Analysts, however, said the dollar’s weakness was just a short-term correction, a much-needed one, after a strong rally in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election on November 8.

Non-farm payrolls increased by 178,000 jobs last month, but data for September and October were revised to show that fewer jobs were created than previously reported.

“Overall, we think the results are good enough to meet the Fed’s low thresholds to hike rates later this month,” Reuters reported Marvin Loh, global markets strategist at BNY Mellon in Boston, as saying.

“The results also indicate an economy moving along in a new normal manner, which should be able to eke out a near two per cent growth rate for the full year, in line with the Fed’s expectations.”

Gold was priced at Rs 54,500 per tola on Sunday. Bullion price went up over the next two days — up Rs 200 a tola to Rs 54,700 per tola on Monday and up Rs 100 a tola to Rs 54,800 per tola on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the precious yellow metal reversed course by dropping Rs 200 a tola to be traded at Rs 54,600 per tola and plunged by Rs 600 a tola to Rs 54,000 per tola on Thursday. Gold price remained constant on Friday.

Similarly, silver was being traded at Rs 785 per tola on Sunday. Its price rose by Rs 10 per tola to Rs 795 a tola on Monday.

On Tuesday, price of the white metal dipped by five rupees per tola to Rs 790 a tola and was unchanged on Wednesday. On Thursday, silver price dropped by another Rs 10 per tola to be priced at Rs 780 a tola.

On Friday, however, the white metal edged up by five rupees per tola to be priced at Rs 785 a tola.