Gold prices declined sharply on Saturday in Tehran amid a rush of sellers following a steep downturn in world markets.
The popular Emami gold coin lost more than 4.8% and was quoted at 103.1 million rials, losing 4.95 million rials compared to Thursday.
Half Emami coin dropped slightly by 0.35% to reach 58.3 million rials and one gram of 18-karat gold was worth 10.19 million rials, down 4.5% compared with the earlier session.
Iran’s gold market is under pressure due to a combination of factors, namely decline in foreign exchange rates, excess supply and sluggish international markets, Mohammad Kashtiaray, president of the gold and jewelry commission at Iran Chamber of Guild, said.
“The gold market opened in red on Saturday influenced by the price fall in global markets. The decline deepened on the back of falling forex rates,” he was quoted as saying by Eqhtesad Online website.
“Perturbed by further decline in gold prices, sellers outnumbered buyers,” Kashtiaray added.
Internationally gold struggled to gain traction on Friday en route to its worst week in over a year as the dollar extended its rally after the US Federal Reserve took a hawkish stance.
Spot gold edged 0.1% lower to $1,770.96 per ounce, stalling an initial uptick on some bargain buying. Prices were down 5.7% for the week, having slid more than 2% on Thursday. The US gold futures settled 0.3% down at $1,769 an ounce, Reuters said.
Normally the main driver of the bullion market, prices in Tehran’s currency market dropped on Saturday.
The US dollar fell by more than 1.4% to buy 240,000 rials, bucking a two-day rising trend. It was sold at 237,310 rials in the official exchange shops affiliated at the Central Bank of Iran. That was 2.94% or 6,980 rials lower compared to Thursday.
Similarly, the euro lost 1.75% or 4,980 rials to be quoted at 284,800 rials while the biggest daily decline was recorded for the UAE dirham as it lost 2.3% to be traded for 65,500 rials.
