KARACHI: Domestic gold price hit this year’s record high of Rs51,500 per tola on Monday, up by Rs550 per tola as compared to the price prevailing on July 5.

The 10 grams price went up by Rs441 to Rs44,142 based on world gold price of $1,359 per ounce as quoted by the All-Sindh Saraf Association which was $1,348 on July 4.

Consumers, who are buying gold jewellery on spot or are making advance booking, must be feeling the pinch of paying high prices from the start of the year owing to upward trend in world bullion prices.

From January 2016 till to-date, the price of one tola surged by Rs7,200 while 10 grams price soared by Rs6,171. The world gold price had risen by $297 per ounce. In the first week of January this year, 10 grams gold price was Rs37,971 while one tola price was Rs44,300 on the basis of world price of $1,062 per ounce.

According to KASB Research, gold prices initially fell to $1,336/oz on Friday as jobs data came in much better than expected. However, the yellow metal rallied strongly as participants remained concerned that the US Federal Reserve will be unable to raise interest rates for the time being.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2016