Gold rates hit all-time high

KARACHI: Gold prices in the local market increased by Rs2,200 per tola on Monday to another all-time high in Pakistan.

All Sindh Saraf Jewellers Association said that gold rates increased to Rs174,900 per tola. Similarly, the 10-gram gold price also increased by Rs1,886 to Rs149,948. In the international market, gold rates increased by $3 to $1,796 per ounce.

Silver rates increased by Rs40 to Rs2,020 per tola to a new all-time high price in the country. The price of 10-gram silver also rose by Rs34.29 to Rs1,731.82. Local jewellers claimed that the gold prices in the local market remained higher by Rs4,000 per tola as compared with the rates in the Dubai gold market.

Muhammad Shafi Khan, a senior goldsmith, said that local people were investing in raw gold, as the Pak rupee remained unstable. However, jewellery was not in higher sales and workers were losing jobs in the gold market. He said that high-level income families were buying gold on marriages and other occasions while the majority of people have moved towards artificial jewellery.

Recently, gold rates in the international market had also increased due to a decline in interest rates in the US banks, said one goldsmith. In the international market, gold rates increased by $143 or 8.6 percent to $1796 per ounce on December 19, 2022, against $1,653 per ounce on November 1, 2022.

In the local market, rates increased by Rs23,800 or 16 percent to Rs174,900 per tola on December 19, 2022, compared with Rs151,100 per tola on November 1, 2022. During this period, Pak rupee rates remained at Rs234 against the US dollar in the open market on Monday against Rs227 on November 1, 2022, which is a depreciation of around 3 percent.

Shafi Khan said that with sales of jewellery at least five other stakeholders used to get livelihood including workers, but now all benefits have been wiped off as investors have moved to raw gold only. “Investors are buying raw gold bars only,” he said.

Analysts are of the view that gold was a safe haven for investors and they would further buy this precious commodity, as Pak rupee rates were unstable. Besides, there was a huge gap between the purchase and sale of the US dollar. “People will invest in the gold, as they think it is a safe deposit,” said one analyst.

Besides gold, silver rates have also increased to an all-time high in the country. Silver rates moved to Rs2020 per tola on December 19, 2022, up 27 percent against Rs1,590 per tola on November 1, 2022. “Those who cannot buy gold at this level, are investing in silver,” he said.