Gold shines, silver loses lustre

Kathmandu, August 25

The price of gold went up slightly while that of silver fell in the trading week of August 19 to 24.

As per the price list of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association (FeNeGoSiDA), gold was traded at Rs 55,800 per tola when the market opened on Sunday. Its price was unchanged for the next two days.

Then on Wednesday, bullion price went up by Rs 300 a tola to Rs 56,100 per tola. The price of the precious yellow metal dipped by Rs 100 a tola to Rs 56,000 per tola the very next day though and remained unchanged on Friday.

Meanwhile, silver was priced at Rs 725 a tola on Sunday and was the same the next day. On Tuesday, its price fell by five rupees per tola to Rs 720 a tola and was stable on Wednesday. On Thursday, the grey metal shed five rupees per tola again to be priced at Rs 715 a tola and its price was unchanged on Friday.

In neighbouring India the demand for physical gold was modest as the country’s top bullion consuming state of Kerala coped with floods.

In top consumer China, premiums rose to $6 to $8 an ounce this week from last week’s $3 to $5, while premiums in Hong Kong were little changed at 90 cents to $1.40 versus 90 cents to $1.50 previously, Reuters reported.

In the international market, growing US political uncertainty — reinforced by the legal woes of two of US President Donald Trump’s former advisers this week — kept the dollar under pressure despite tighter US monetary policy.

Still, in recent months investors have sought safety from the US-China trade dispute in US Treasury bonds, which also entails buying dollars.

A Reuters survey published on Thursday showed analysts expected US rates to rise twice more this year and twice next year. The Fed next meets on September 25 and 26.