Gold price remains unchanged at Rs240,300 per tola

ISLAMABAD: Gold price remained unchanged in the local market at Rs240,300 per tola despite an uptick in the price of the yellow metal in the international market.
According to the data provided by the Karachi Sarafa Association, the price for one tola of 24-karat gold remained unchanged at Rs240,300. Similarly, the price for 10 grams of 24-karat and 22-karat gold remained unchanged at Rs206,019 and Rs188,850 respectively.
The gold price for one tola of 24-karat gold has been kept a significant Rs3,000 below its actual cost due to a reduction in purchasing power, said Karachi Sarafa Association. The gold price in the country decreased by Rs1,600 per tola in May after surging by Rs7,100 per tola in April. It may be noted that the gold price hit an all-time high in Pakistan on April 20 when it reached Rs252,200.
On the other hand, gold futures in the international market as of 1250 hours GMT were available at $2,333.10 per ounce, showing an increase of $6.40. Out of the $6.40 increase, +$1.55 was due to weakening of the US dollar and +$4.85 was due to predominant buyers, according to the Kitco Gold Index.
Gold traded marginally higher, as the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield stayed in negative territory below 4.5 percent following the release of marginally lower-than-expected US core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data on Friday last. Core PCE came out at 0.2 percent month-on-month in April instead of 0.3 percent forecast. The data lifted the precious metal temporarily to a peak of $2,359, however, it promptly tumbled back down.
From a technical perspective, the precious metal’s medium and long-term trends are still bullish; however, short-term trends are bearish. A break above the consolidation zone at $2,362 would be required to bring into doubt the integrity of the short-term downtrend, otherwise further weakness is foreseen. On the downside, the psychological level of $2,300 is the initial support, followed by $2,277. – TLTP