Gold boosted by weaker dollar

Kathmandu, March 25

A pullback by the dollar helped to give dollar-denominated gold prices a boost in the week of March 19 to 24.

The four-month rally in global stocks came to a juddering halt in the week as US President Donald Trump struggled to garner enough support from his own Republican party for a bill repealing Obamacare, whose passage was seen as crucial to the future of Trump’s growth agenda.

Analysts said that if the health-care bill got passed, the market would see it as one

hurdle out of the way for finally moving onto tax reform and other fiscal stimulus measures. In that case, bond yields would rise, the US dollar would strengthen, and the reflation trade would see some tailwind in the short term. Gold will back off.

However, as the bill did not get passed during the voting on Friday, the opposite is likely and gold price is likely to rise in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve and its intentions surrounding the future path of interest rates are also under focus.

“The Fed is dovish, but still on track to increase the interest rate two more times this year,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at ThinkMarkets, according to Reuters. “Simply put, you can say this is a dovish hike and gold traders like this news.”

Gold was priced at Rs 54,200 per tola on Sunday and its price rose by Rs 200 a tola to Rs 54,400 per tola on Monday. However, the yellow metal lost the gain the very next day dropping by Rs 200 a tola to Rs 54,200 per tola on Tuesday. On Wednesday, though, bullion price surged by Rs 700 a tola to Rs 54,900 per tola and its price remained constant the next day. On Friday, however, gold price dipped by Rs 100 a tola to end the week at Rs 54,800 per tola.

Meanwhile, silver was traded at Rs 785 a tola on Sunday and its price remained the same on Monday. The price of the white metal dipped by five rupees per tola to be priced at Rs 780 a tola on Tuesday, but recovered from the loss the very next day to be traded at Rs 785 per tola on Wednesday. Its price remained unchanged on Thursday, but edged up by five rupees a tola on Friday to close the week at Rs 790 per tola.