Tehran's gold coin and currency markets heated up on Monday, with volatility showing no signs of abating and roiling the markets since a couple of weeks ago.
In the open market, the rial was quoted at 43,080 to the dollar for the first time, weakening to an all-time high. Rial was also quoted at 54,350 to the euro, another high-demand currency and was down by 2.64% compared to the previous day, according to Tehran Chamber of Commerce's official media outlet.
The benchmark Bahar Azadi gold coin fetched 14.82 million rials ($344.0 ), gaining 2.1% compared with the previous day. Half Azadi was also up by 2.5% and was sold for 7.37 million rials ($171.07). The launch of 14 auctions by Bank Kargoshaee–affiliated with Bank Melli Iran–has failed to completely deflate the coin's bubble, which still hovers around 500,000 rials.
Mohammad Keshti-Aray, the head of Tehran’s Gold and Jewelry Union, has welcomed the gold auctions and attributed the rally mainly to the rise in global gold prices.
"The gold coin auctions of the past few weeks have had a remarkable impact on the market. If it were not for them, we would have been facing a severe bubble, but they have decreased the volatility," he said recently.
Tehran's Stock Exchange’s main index also lost 1,649.82 points or 1.7% on Sunday, after days of bullish trend was propped up by positive economic landscape and rising prices for commodities in international markets.
However, the effect of recent protests over unsound economic policies that led to the rise of basic goods' prices has dampened the markets, causing more fluctuations in the currency and gold coin markets–considered safe haven investments by many Iranians.
TSE on Monday gained 0.68% to recoup some of the losses it incurred on Monday, as faith in government policies to address public economic worries rebounded.
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