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| Kathmandu, Wednesday May 01, 2002 Baishakh 18, 2059. |
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Gold price stable at higher
mark
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 30:The bullion price in the
domestic market continued to maintain at the higher mark of last five years thanks to the
continued rising international gold price propped up mainly by weak dollar and pessimistic
performance of the global stock market.
The domestic gold price, which scaled up to
touch Rs 8,230 per ten gram, has been stable at the price since Monday. The gold price was
stable at Rs 8,060 per ten gram during entire last week. The highest gold price observed
during last five year’s time, was Rs 7,970 per ten gram in November 1996. An all time
high price of gold in the domestic market was witnessed on 8 February 1996, when the
market touched Rs 9,040 per ten gram.
The international gold price, which had been
soaring slightly since last couple of days, recorded another unprecedented jump of more
than US $ 2 on Monday and touched US $ 309.70 per troy ounce. However, the international
price on Tuesday slightly declined to US $ 309.7 on Tuesday. An increase of a dollar in
gold price in the international market leads to increase of about Rs 20 in a ten-gram on
the domestic market.
Gold traders say that along with the poor
performance of the global stock market and poor performance of the Japanese economy,
world’s second largest economy after the American economy, the escalating Middle East
problem is another factor for demand led price surge around the world. As a result the
investors are still financing in the gold as the best and reliable alternative investment
sector. However, experts opine that since strong indication of the revival of the American
economy is coming, the weak dollar might be strengthen in coming days that would push down
the gold price.
However, unlike the past trend, the price hike
effect of gold in the domestic market has not been as adverse as used to be in the past.
In the past such hike used to result in a decline in the overall demand by around 50 per
cent. Despite the record-high price, the upcoming marriage seasons has largely helped to
keep the demand at the higher side. "Though the overall demand is still at the low
ebb, the seasonal demand has prevented the market from a crash landing," says Tej
Ratna Shakya, President of Nepal Gold-Silver Dealers Association. According to the
Association, the normal national demand of gold is 30 kilogram per day.
Shakya stresses that with the end of marriage
season the actual market condition would be visible. During similar previous price hikes
before the beginning of the marriage season last month, the average daily demand of gold
had plunged to less than half the normal demand.
Along with the soaring gold price, gold traders
continued to face problems as the sales of old gold stock and ornament have skyrocketed in
recent months. However, gold entrepreneurs say such a trend has been slightly declined in
last two days. "People have stoppe.
d selling old gold stock in the expectation that
the price would further shoot up in coming days and some of the speculators have even
started purchasing fresh gold in the expectation of capital gain," Shakya reckons.
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