Gold crosses Rs38,000

KARACHI: The price of gold in the local market broke the psychological barrier of Rs38,000 per ten grams during trade on Thursday to close at Rs38,014. Rates of the precious metal have been rising steadily over the past three months.

“We expect it to go up further,” commented a jeweller from Karachi. He explained that because the dollar was weakening against major currencies of the world, investors were shifting towards gold as an alternative. According to Reuters, gold prices hit a high of $1,387 per ounce on Thursday in international markets.

“Local business has suffered but once people realise that prices are not going down anytime soon they will start purchasing again,” he added. The per tola (11.6 grams) price of the commodity was recorded at Rs44,350 – up Rs350 from Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Haroon Rashid from the Karachi Saraf Jewellers Association pointed out that prices of all precious metals were on the rise. Silver, for example, closed at a record Rs591.42 per ten gram, marking an increase of almost four per cent.

It is important to note that silver prices in the international market ‘also rode higher on gold’s coat-tails, reaching a fresh 30-year high at $24.9 an ounce before easing back to $24.53 an ounce against $23.89’.

Published in The Express Tribune ,October 15^th, 2010.