Kathmandu, October 29

The price of precious metals went up slightly in the trading week of October 23 and 28.

While the US Federal Reserve has pretty much confirmed a rate hike in December, which in turn strengthened the dollar and kept the demand for precious metals tepid, gold demand in India spiked over the week, between October 23 and 28, as festive buying lifted the premium over official domestic prices to its highest in 10 months.

Demand in India, the world’s second-largest consumer, usually strengthens in the final quarter as the country gears up for the wedding season soon after Diwali and Dhanteras, when buying bullion is considered auspicious, according to Reuters.

The price of precious metals in the local market is governed by their rates set in the international rates.

Gold was priced at Rs 56,500 per tola when the market opened for trading on Sunday. Its price remained constant in the next two days.

On Wednesday, bullion price went up by Rs 300 per tola to Rs 56,800 a tola. On Thursday, however, the precious yellow metal shed the gain of the previous day by dropping Rs 300 per tola to Rs 56,500 a tola.

On Friday, gold recovered some of the loss of the previous day as its price went up by Rs 200 per tola to Rs 56,700 a tola.

Similarly, silver was traded at Rs 805 per tola when the market opened on Sunday. Its price remained the same the next day. On Tuesday, the price of the white metal went up by five rupees per tola to Rs 810 a tola.

Silver price went up by five rupees a tola again on Wednesday to be traded at Rs 815 per tola. On Thursday, however, the white metal shed the gain of the previous day to dip by five rupees per tola to Rs 810 a tola. Its price remained stable on Friday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association (Fenegosida), the price of precious metals will likely see slight fluctuations in the coming week as well.

This is because even as India has been one of the largest gold consumers for over 2,000 years after China, overall it remains a consumer, not a price-setter.