Gold market in Iran followed the global trend in the past week (Oct. 4-10) seeing major fluctuations.
The full gold coin of Bahar Azadi was sold at 9,280,000 rials on Monday, hitting the lowest price of the week but rebounded later reaching 9,355,000 rials on Tuesday and then increasing to 9,410,000 rials on Wednesday.
The upward trend continued until the last day of the Iranian working day, Thursday, when the market closed at 9,450,000 rials per full gold coin.
Global gold prices fell on Friday, after snapping four days of gains since Monday. Gold had hit a 15-month low earlier this week.
“This was the first time in the past four years that global gold prices hit $1183/oz,” according to Mohammad Keshti-Aray, head of Gold and Jewelry Guild.
However, gold rose 1.4 percent on Monday, its biggest one-day gain in two months, when strong US jobs data fuelled talk that American interest rates could go up sooner rather than later, according to Reuters.
Since Monday, gold prices continued to increase, and remained on track to post their biggest weekly gain in four months, the report said.
According to Reuters, the fall in global gold prices last Friday happened “as the dollar rose against a basket of currencies, though the metal remained supported by concerns over the prospect of a widespread economic slowdown, which sparked a drop in stock markets.”
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,221.36 an ounce at 0918 GMT, while US gold futures for December delivery were down $3.30 an ounce at $1,222.00.
Reuters quoted Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS, as saying “gold is just following the dollar tick by tick -- if the dollar goes up, gold does the opposite.”
“Indian buyers are quite active. We’re just around the corner from Diwali -- festival of lights, an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. But the rest of the world is relatively quiet, given that prices, even with this recovery, are cheap,” said Nabavi.
Keshti-Aray said it is impossible to forecast the trend of gold prices at least in the next few days, as the market has gone through a great amount of uncertainly in recent days. “However, the results of the P5+1 (United States, Russia, China, France, Britain plus Germany) negotiations with Iran over its nuclear energy program will influence the domestic market of gold.”
The prevailing good atmosphere in nuclear talks led to a decrease in the rate of the dollar against the rial, Keshti-Aray argued, adding that “if the trend continues, the dollar will depreciate against the rial and as a result gold prices will fall in the domestic market.”
