Kathmandu, April 29

The price of precious metals declined in the week of April 23 to 28 as investors in the international market sought higher returns than those from holding the non-interest bearing yellow metal by buying into riskier assets.

“Technically gold has not had a great week ... there seems to be some pressure as the risk-on sentiment is still on despite Trump’s tax plans disappointing and especially situation in North Korea does not seem to be inflamed,” Reuters quoted a Hong-Kong based trader as saying.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump proposed deep US tax cuts, mainly for businesses. If enacted, it would make the federal deficit balloon, and thus, drew a cautious welcome from fiscal conservatives and financial markets.

“People are pulling out of gold and moving to risky assets like shares and currencies to make profits,” Brian Lan, managing director at gold dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore, told Reuters.

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

Gold was priced at Rs 55,500 per tola when the market opened for trading on Sunday. The price of the precious yellow metal spiralled down over the following four days — down Rs 200 a tola to Rs 55,300 per tola on Monday, down Rs 200 a tola to Rs 55,100 per tola on Tuesday, down Rs 400 a tola to Rs 54,700 per tola on Wednesday and down Rs 100 a tola to Rs 54,600 per tola on Thursday. On Friday, however, the bullion price edged up by Rs 100 a tola to close the week at Rs 54,700 per tola.

Similarly, silver was traded at Rs 800 a tola on Sunday. The price of the white metal fell by Rs 10 per tola to Rs 790 a tola on Monday and its price remained unchanged the next day. On Wednesday, silver price fell by Rs 10 per tola to Rs 780 a tola. It dipped by five rupees a tola each day on Thursday and Friday to close the week at Rs 770 per tola.