Himal Press 
Representative Image (Photo: Pexels)
KATHMANDU: The price of gold fell sharply in the domestic market on Monday, extending a steep decline from last week’s record highs.
According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Associations, the price of fine gold dropped by Rs 13,400 per tola (11.664 grams) on Monday to settle at Rs 286,600. The yellow metal traded at Rs 300,000 per tola on Sunday.
The precious metal had reached an all-time high of Rs 339,300 per tola on January 29. Since then, domestic prices have fallen by around 15% in line with the correction in the international market.
Silver prices also declined. The federation said the price of silver fell from Rs 5,500 per tola on Sunday to Rs 5,200 per tola on Monday.
Gold prices have fluctuated heavily in the domestic market over the past 10 days. The price rose from Rs 301,400 on January 23 to a peak of Rs 339,300 on January 29, before falling to Rs 318,800 on Friday, before retreating steadily to Monday’s level of Rs 286,600.
The volatility reflects turbulence in global bullion markets. Internationally, gold extended its fall on Monday to $4,677.17 per ounce as of 0450 GMT, after dropping more than 5 percent earlier in the session to hit its lowest level in over two weeks. Spot gold had scaled a historic high of $5,594.82 per ounce last Thursday.
Gold Price Movement (Price: Rs in tola)
Nepal meets all of its gold demand through imports. As a result, any fluctuation in international prices is directly transmitted to the domestic market.
Despite the recent correction, global analysts remain optimistic about gold’s longer-term outlook. Investment bank JP Morgan said late on Sunday that it expects strong demand from central banks and investors to push prices higher again. The bank forecast gold could reach $6,300 per ounce by the end of the year.
“We remain firmly bullishly convicted in gold over the medium-term on the back of a clean, structural, continued diversification trend that has further to run amid a still well-entrenched regime of real asset outperformance vs paper assets,” the brokerage said in a note, according to Reuters.
