Gold price has gone up by Rs 500 per 10 grams during the last four days in the domestic market due to rising demand and slow imports, traders said. They said the decline in import of the yellow metal by 70 percent during the first month of current fiscal year, resulted in escalation of Rs 520 per 10 grams during last four days in the major gold markets of the country, including Lahore, Multan, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta and Faislabad.
After the current upsurge, the price of 10 grams has reached a new peak of Rs 13,560 per 10 grams on Saturday from Rs 13,040 per 10 grams on Wednesday. In the Karachi and Hyderabad markets, the price of gold was upped by Rs 390 per 10 grams during the last four days reaching Rs 13,560 as compared to Rs 13,170 per 10 grams on Wednesday.
Trades said that the gold price in the country were still lower than the international prices, which stood at 701 dollars per ounce from 673 dollars per ounce, depicting an increased of 28 dollars per ounce during the last week.
"We are selling gold under cost as the local gold price is Rs 200 per 10 grams lower than the international market," said a leading gold trader Haji Haroon Chand.
He said that due to high international prices, the import of the yellow metal in July declined by 70 percent, which stood at 5.017 million dollars as compared to 16.55 million dollars in July 2006.
After raise in the prices of gold in the international market, the importers avoided placing big orders, bringing the gold import to the lowest level, he added. In the context of quantity, just 254 kilograms of gold was imported in July as compared to the import of 928 kilograms during the same period of the last fiscal year, he said.
Referring to the demand of gold, Chand said there was a big rush of customers in the domestic market due to marriage season, which is also a reason of rising gold prices.
Besides, huge taxes on the import of gold also affected the import of the gold during the last few months, he said, adding: "We are paying Rs 150 per tola withholding tax and Rs 80 per tola as Federal tax on the import of the commodity, which has further raised the price of imported gold."
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