April 20, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1427

TEHRAN, April 19: Iran’s Central Bank moved on Wednesday to slow down a sharp rise in the price of gold, state television said on Wesdnesday, as traders spoke of increased public demand due to tensions over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.

The price of a gold coin weighing around 10 grams (about a third of an ounce) reached 1.85 million rials (about $202) late Tuesday, a 25 per cent surge on prices two weeks ago.

Following the Central Bank move to supply more coins — which many Iranian prefer to buy rather than place cash in a bank — prices fell back to $164.

“The price increase is in line with the rise in international prices, but there is an additional psychological factor here,” gold coin trader Javad Zargar told AFP.

“Iran’s nuclear case has been dragging on for a long time, and the reason for the price rise is public anxiety,” Mohammad Reza Tabesh, a member of the Iranian parliament’s budget commission, told the ISNA news agency.

Investors are flocking to buy gold in the face of high crude oil prices amid concerns over possible supply disruptions in

Iran, Opec’s number two exporter.

The precious metal is regarded as a good store of value in times of rising inflation and geo-political uncertainty.—AFP