Kathmandu, November 2

Trading of gold and silver remained sluggish during the Tihar festival.

“Teej, Dashain and Tihar are the major festivals when demand for gold soars. But this year gold trade has been affected since Teej and the market has not revived yet,” informed Mani Ratna Shakya, former president of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association (FeNeGoSiDA).

Although the trading increased slightly during Tihar compared to Dashain, gold dealers have said that it was not as per their expectations.

As Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, is worshipped during Tihar, the demand for gold went up slightly compared to Dashain.

Meanwhile, the price hike has not affected the demand for silver in the market. “This year the highest rate for silver stood at Rs 900 per tola, which was still affordable for consumers. Hence, its business was satisfactory,” he added.

As per the FeNeGoSiDA, the prices of gold and silver went up during the week of October 27 and November 1. Before Tihar, gold was traded at Rs 71,000 a tola. The association did not review its price during the Tihar holidays. Then on Thursday, bullion price had dropped by Rs 500 per tola to be traded at Rs 70,500 a tola. On Friday, however, it more than recovered the earlier loss as the price of precious yellow metal surged by Rs 700 per tola to close the week at Rs 71,200 a tola.

Likewise, the price of silver also went up by Rs 10 per tola on Friday compared to its price before Tihar.

According to FeNeGoSiDA, silver was traded at Rs 860 a tola before Tihar festival and it remained constant till Thursday. However, its price reached Rs 870 per tola on Friday.

According to Reuters, gold discounts in India — the second largest consumer of the yellow metal — widened during the week as physical demand cooled because of high prices after a busy festival week, while activity in other Asian hubs was largely steady. In the international market, gold prices eased on Friday as better-than-expected US jobs numbers and strong factory data from China bolstered sentiment for riskier assets.