Logging daily gains since last week the US dollar crossed the critical 310,000-rial level on Monday in the open market and closed at 311,000 rials, rising more than 3%.
America’s currency soared as high as 312,800 rials in early hours of trade on Tuesday but lost momentum later to end at 311,800 rials, up 0.2% on the session before.
The Persian-language economic newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad ascribed the rise to increase in inflation expectations among the public that has given rise to forex and gold demand as people seek safe havens to protect their life-savings against the plunging rial.
The euro was up 0.24% on Tuesday to close at 335,900 rials in the open market, the GBP bought 397,800 rials gaining 0.25% while the UAE dirham climbed more than 0.7% to 85,500 rials.
The greenback was tagged at 258,500 rials in the regulated forex market -- 0.15% higher on Monday’s close. This market is a CBI-affiliated spot market operated by a network of banks and certified moneychangers dealing in wholesale currency.
Rates in exchange bureaus affiliated to the CBI pulled back Tuesday. The Melli Exchange quoted eh dollar at 259,450 rials, down 0.2% on the session before.
The bullion market in Iran normally moves in the same direction as the currency market. Gold rose on Monday in tandem with forex rates in the past several days before losing pace on Tuesday impacted also by international trends.
The Emami gold coin briefly touched 150 million rials on Monday but retreated slightly on Tuesday. The popular coin lost 0.3% or 400,000 rials to close at 149.05 million rials on Tuesday. The coin was worth around 125 million rials in early April.
Half Bahar Azadi coin was up 0.6% or 500,000 rials to reach 84.5 million rials and one gram of 18-karat gold was sold at 14.28 million rials, indicating close to 0.5% rise compared with the session before.
Gold prices fell on Tuesday in international markets as an uptick in the dollar and US bond yields overshadowed support from concerns over soaring inflation, with bullion on track to decline for a second straight month, Reuters said.
Spot gold fell 0.4% to $1,848.60 per ounce and was down 2.5% for the month in its biggest decline since last September. US gold futures dipped 0.2% to $1,852.70.
