Forex and gold coin prices have become more sensitive to the rumor mills and reports about the outcome of the marathon nuclear talks between Iran and the five world powers in Vienna.
Both markets plunged this week, largely under the influence of optimism about the lifting of US sanctions and unlocking of billions in Iran's forex assets in several countries.
The dollar closed Wednesday at a multi-month low of 208,000 rials in Tehran’s free market after losing 4.8%. However, unofficial reports about a major disagreement between Iran and the US in the talks to revive the nuclear deal, known as Joint Comprehension Plan of Action (JCPOA) pushed the greenback up 2.2% on Thursday to 212,300 rials.
Negotiators in the Austrian capital are trying hard to revive the deal, which was blown up by former US president, Donald Trump, in 2018 who reimposed the toughest sanctions in history against Iran’s economy, namely on oil export, banks and insurance companies.
The unexpected bounce back of the dollar comes at a time when the market was expecting it to fall below 190,000 rials.
Bank-affiliated moneychangers, however, priced the dollar at 202,340 rials on Thursday down 1.48% compared to Monday's close.
Some market observers believe that the dollar is likely to drop in the neighborhood of 170,000 if the ongoing diplomatic efforts are successful in resuscitating the 2015 nuclear agreement. On the other hand, there are those who expect the currency to quickly surge to 230,000 rials or more if Vienna turns out to be a failure.
Euro, the other foreign currency in the Tehran market, also went through similar shifts. It dropped to 250,010 rials on Wednesday but gained 2.27% on Thursday to close at 255,820 rials.
The UAE dirham slid on Thursday losing 0.75% to buy 57,670 rials. It had lost 4.65% Wednesday closing at 58,100 rials.
Gold coin prices also were down last week. According to Mohammad Keshti-Aray, head of the Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union, Emami gold coin hit a nine-month low on Wednesday, after losing 4 million rials in a week.
"However, the coin rose slightly on Thursday morning as usual under the heavy influence of forex rates," ISNA quoted him as saying. "I believe the markets will show their true position come Saturday, when the Covid lockdown is over.”
The Emami coin bought 93.4 million rials on Thursday up 0.53% or 500,000 rials, compared with Wednesday's close. It lost nearly 3% Wednesday from 95.65 million rials to 92.9 million rials.
However, the rise in Emami coins apparently had no impact on the Half Bahar Azadi gold Coin and the Quarter Bahar Azadi Gold Coin as they respectively lost 1.97% and 2.33% on Thursday.
According to Eghtesadnews, the Half coin was priced at 51 million rials while Quarter Bahar was quoted at 32.25 million rials.
