Prices of precious metals rise on stimulus hopes

KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 10

The price of precious metals bobbed during the trading week of October 4 to 9, but eventually recorded gain over the review period as optimism over more federal fiscal aid pushed the stock market and gold higher at the end of the week.

The rate publicised by the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association (FeNeGoSiDA) shows that gold was priced at Rs 94,500 per tola on Sunday. Its price fell by Rs 400 a tola to be traded at Rs 94,100 per tola on Monday. On Tuesday, bullion price rose by Rs 800 a tola to Rs 94,900 per tola but the gain was wiped out the very next day as gold price fell by Rs 800 a tola to be priced at Rs 94,100 per tola. On Thursday, gold price fell further to Rs 93,900 a tola, down Rs 200 per tola. But on Friday, it more than recovered the earlier losses by jumping Rs 900 a tola to close the week at Rs 94,800 per tola.

The price of the precious yellow metal went up by Rs 300 a tola or 0.32 per cent over the review period. Compared to the closing rate of Rs 94,300 per tola of the previous week, gold price went up by Rs 500 a tola or 0.53 per cent.

In the international market, gold jumped one per cent on Monday on optimism around a US stimulus bill and a weakened dollar, despite gains in the stock markets after reports that US President Donald Trump could soon be discharged from hospital.

Gold prices eased on Tuesday, as equities gained following Trump’s discharge from hospital after treatment for COVID-19, though a softer dollar cushioned bullion’s further decline. Its prices hovered near a one-week low hit in previous session, after the US president halted new stimulus talks, bolstering the dollar.

Gold prices were steady on Thursday as renewed hopes for more US stimulus kept the bullion afloat, with investors eyeing the weekly jobless claims data to further gauge the health of the world’s largest economy.

Then on Friday, gold climbed more than one per cent as the dollar retreated to a near threeweek low and increased bets for fresh US stimulus pushed investors to bullion as a hedge against likely inflation.

The rates of the precious metals in the domestic market are determined by their rates in the international markets.

Meanwhile, silver was traded at Rs 1,180 per tola on Sunday, according to FeNeGoSiDA’s rate list, and its price was unchanged the next day. Silver price rose by Rs 20 a tola to Rs 1,200 per tola on Tuesday, but slumped by Rs 25 a tola to Rs 1,175 per tola on Wednesday. The grey metal annulled the earlier loss by inching up by five rupees a tola to Rs 1,180 per tola on Thursday and went up again by Rs 15 a tola on Friday to close the trading week at Rs 1,195 per tola.

Silver price went up by Rs 15 a tola or 1.27 per cent during the review week. Week-on-week though, the gain was Rs 20 per tola or 1.70 per cent.

A version of this article appears in print on October 11, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.