Tehran’s currency market opened lower Saturday as fears of further decline sparkled a new bout of selling.
After big losses in the recent past, the US dollar relatively stabilized last week vacillating between 277,500 rials to 283,000 rials.
At the opening of trade on Saturday, the greenback lost more than 1% in Tehran’s open market compared to the session before and was traded at 277,000 rials down 3,000 rials.
The euro lost 1.15% or 3,660 rials to buy 316, 810 rials and the UK pound sterling was down 1.27% to be worth 379,510 rials. The UAE dirham lost almost 1.5% and retreated to 75,800 rials.
The rial has improved against most major currencies in recent days amid rising hopes for success of the ongoing talks between Iran and the signatories (minus the United States) to the 2015 nuclear deal.
The dollar has lost nearly 9% in three weeks, plunging from 305,000 rials on Dec.22. The Iranian currency is expected to rebound after the US banking and financial sanctions if the nuclear talks bear fruit in the comng weeks and billions in Iran’s forex assets held in foreign banks are released.
Iran is holding indirect talks with the US in the Austrian capital Vienna to work out how both sides can resume compliance with the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The US under Donald Trump left the landmark agreement in 2018 and imposed tough economic sanctions that forced Tehran to go back on its nuclear commitments outlined in the 2015 deal.
The dollar was worth 265,650 rials on Saturday at the official exchange bureaus affiliated to the Central Bank of Iran, down 0.4%. It suffered bigger losses in the wholesale market known as the regulated foreign exchange market, giving up 1.4% or 3,600 rials to be tagged at 259,000 rials.
This market is a CBI-affiliated spot market operated by a network of banks and certified moneychangers dealing in wholesale currency.
The domestic bullion market also was depressed following the pattern of decline in forex rates in Teheran and the falling gold prices in international markets.
The popular Emami gold coin gave up more than 1.2% or 1.5 million rials on Saturday to close at 122.55 million rials. The Half Bahar Azadi coin was worth 66.2 million rials, falling 0.5% and one gram of 18-karat gold dropped 2.5% and was traded at 11.98 million rials.
Gold prices slipped on Friday in international markets, weighed down by an uptick in US Treasury yields on prospects of interest rate hikes and a stronger dollar, Reuters said.
Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,816.22 per ounce and US gold futures settled down 0.3% at $1,816.50.
