Tehran’s gold market has taken another knock on Saturday with the Iranian Azadi bullion coin taking a hit. The Azadi coin was down 1.73 percent by the end of the business day in Tehran at just over 9,680,000 rials, a two month low. The Emami gold coin, Azadi’s sister coin, took a worse hit than its sibling by falling 2.16 percent to finish at 9,710,000 rials at the end of the trading day.
The Azadi fell because gold turned lower in choppy dealings on Friday, hitting a seven-week low after the euro zone discussed extending the Greek bailout by just four months, while prices headed for their fourth straight weekly drop.
A draft text on extending Greece’s bailout from its international creditors proposes prolonging the program by four months rather than a previously suggested six, officials from Greece and other euro zone states said on Friday, Reuters reported.
Spot gold turned down 0.41 percent at $1,201.94 an ounce by Friday’s close. The metal has lost 2.5 percent so far this week, dipping to its lowest in six weeks at $1,197.56 on Wednesday, when hopes for a successful resolution to Greece’s debt talks boosted investor appetite for risk.
In the foreign exchange markets, the rial held its own against a basket of major currencies. The US dollar slipped slightly against the rial in throughout the trading day, registering 0.15 percent decline in value.
The euro fared worse against the Iranian currency, falling 0.43 percent to settle at 39,100 to the rial.
Fear of a Grexit heightened when Maltese Finance Minister Edward Scicluna stated that the biggest and most influential countries in the euro zone were potentially prepared to let Athens leave the single currency if it continues to ignore orders from Berlin.
The British pound sterling didn’t fare much better either registering a 0.28 percent fall to stop at 52.670 against the rial. This follows Friday’s news that the Bank of England brought forward its forecasts for when inflation would return to its two percent target. The only major currency to buck the trend on Saturday’s trading was the Chinese yuan or remnimbi. The East Asian currency actually rose 0.54 percent against the rial ending on 5,580 rials.
