Gold Prices Up in Tehran Market

Shockwaves from the recent US-North Korea crisis have heated the international gold market and investors rushed toward safe-haven assets with the knock-on effect being felt in Tehran's market, as the precious metal gained over the past week.

North Korea's nuclear nerve has pushed the price of an ounce of gold in the world market by $35 or 2.6% in just four days to Saturday.

Tehran's gold market also could not avoid the fallout, as the price of 18-carat gold climbed by 20,000 rials per gram in three days to reach 1,195,000 rials ($31.4) which, according to the data by Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union's website, is the highest price for the yellow metal in more than four years.  

This is while all kinds of gold coins in Tehran market have also registered consecutive jumps for several days. The rally started on August 6 when Bahar Azadi gold coin fetched 11,830,000 rials ($311.3).     

The benchmark gold coin gained 110,000 rials during the following six days to reach 11,940,000 rials ($314.2) on Saturday and set a three-month record. Emami, the other benchmark gold coin, also gained 100,000 rials during the same period, changing hands for 12,250,000 rials ($322.3) on Saturday, which is its highest price since May 17, 2017.

However, gold traders in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and other well-known markets told Financial Tribune that despite the significant surge in gold coin value, the market has not witnessed a significant rise in demand.

Mohammad Keshti-Aray, the head of Tehran’s Gold and Jewelry Union, told IRNA the gold market is influenced by political incidents and “we can only wait and see what will be the result of these tensions”.

Reuters reported that the damage inflicted on world stocks this week by the escalating tensions over North Korea topped $1 trillion on Friday, as investors again took cover in China’s yen, the Swiss franc, gold and government bonds.

With the tense mood pushing European shares down for a third day and Wall Street set to fall again, global stocks were on course for their worst week since Donald Trump won November’s US presidential election.

Robert Pawlik, a strategist in New York’s market, said the dispute between US and North Korea has made a lot of people angry and many of them are thinking of withdrawing their money from stock markets.

Foad Razzaq-Zadeh, an analyst on Forex website, also believes that the recent verbal sparring between US and North Korea leaders has affected investors’ view of the market and the value of gold and silver increased because they have always been considered safe investment by people.