This along with commitment of the European Central Bank to protect euro zone from collapse caused international price of gold to go up, making it expensive by Rs 1,200 per tola (11.664 grams) in the local market over the week.[break]
Currency
Nepali rupee shed Rs 1.34 against a US dollar over the week. This rendered imports expensive, but raised income of remittance receivers as well as exporters. On Friday, a dollar was exchanged at Rs 89.94.
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), country´s monetary authority, had opened the trading Sunday with exchange rate of dollar set at Rs 88.60. But as announcement of the Indian government to defer reforms eroded investors´ confidence in the southern neighbor, rupee shed 20 paisa on Monday and a whopping Re 1 on Tuesday.
As downward spiral continued, rupee weakened by another 11 paisa on Wednesday and further dipped 39 paisa against a dollar on Thursday. It, however, regained 36 paisa when the market closed this week on Friday.
Likewise, rupee shed 36 paisa against a euro and fell by 22 paisa against a pound sterling over the week. A euro was exchanged at Rs 109.06, while a pound sterling was valued Rs 139.34 on Friday.
Bullion
Gold became expensive by Rs 1,030 per 10 grams in the domestic market this week, as international demand for the yellow metal soared amid hopes of European Central Bank announcing monetary easing to protect euro zone. On Friday, gold was traded at Rs 48,870 per 10 grams in the domestic market.
Bullion trading had opened this week with gold priced at Rs 47,840 per 10 grams on Sunday. But price consistently inched up amid currency volatility. As a result, gold became expensive by Rs 210 per 10 grams on Monday and further by Rs 130 per 10 grams on Tuesday.
Gold price further jumped by Rs 300 per 10 grams on Wednesday and Rs 475 on Thursday. However, price inched down by Rs 85 per 10 grams when the market closed on Friday.
The price of silver also rose by Rs 8.50 per 10 grams over the week. On Friday, silver was traded at Rs 874.50 per 10 grams.
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