KARACHI (APP) - Gold price plunged by Rs 686 to close at Rs 47,314 per 10 grams in the local market on Thursday, market sources said.
According to Karachi Sarafa Association official, tola (11.664 grams) price also decreased by Rs 700 to Rs 55,300. Silver closed lower at Rs 874.28 per 10 grams.
Reuters adds from London: Gold prices firmed a touch in Europe on Friday, tracking gains in the euro as upbeat US data boosted interest in assets seen as higher risk at the dollar’s expense, though volumes were light as financial markets wound down towards year-end.
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,607.55 an ounce at 1310 GMT. The precious metal remains on track for its worst quarterly performance in more than three years, although it has climbed more than 13 percent this year.
“Markets have now moved into a pretty rock-steady price range, with most investors on the sidelines ahead of the new year,” said Pradeep Unni, senior analyst at Richcomm Global Services. “Volatility too has declined significantly.”
“In the immediate term it looks like gold will be associated with the other risky assets and may slip lower when we see a spike in the U.S. dollar. The safe-haven status of gold seems to have been tarnished a bit.”
Positive jobs and consumer sentiment data from the United States sparked a retreat in the dollar — which has been a beneficiary of safe-haven flows recently — and a rise in the euro. Gold, which becomes cheaper for holders of other currencies as the U.S. unit weakens, rose.
Stock markets climbed to a two-week high in Europe as nominally higher-risk assets benefited from the data, although they remain overshadowed by the euro zone debt crisis. Doubts remain over whether this week’s European Central Bank tender of half a trillion euros’ worth of cheap loans will be effective in easing the strain for troubled euro zone economies.
The threat of sovereign downgrades throughout the euro zone is still hanging over the euro, keeping sentiment towards the currency bearish heading into the new year.
“We still stress the vulnerability of precious metals to a tightening of euro zone money market liquidity which might result from the region’s sovereign debt problems,” Standard Bank analysts said in a note.