Gold Coin Resurges

Bahar Azadi gold coin surged on Tuesday after days of calm to hit 14.03 million rials ($335), according to Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union’s website. The price is reportedly the highest registered in the past 10 days and indicates that the Central Bank of Iran’s efforts to stop the yellow metal’s strong rally has fallen short of the goals. CBI launched several gold coin auctions at base prices lower than the market rate in the past weeks to forestall a flight of capital to the gold market in the wake of bank interest rate cuts. While denting the coin’s historic bubble, the rally seems to be far from cooling off. CBI is wary of the rising inflation in the wake of a liquidity surge.  In the currency market, the rial was quoted at 41,820 to the dollar, weakening slightly from a day ago.