By Laxman Kafle
Kathmandu, Aug. 6: Price of the precious yellow metal has set a new record on Wednesday with the price of a tola of gold reaching Rs. 101,400 in the domestic market. 
The price increased by Rs. 1,600 per tola (11.66 grams) to Rs. 101,400 today while it was traded at Rs. 99,800 per tola on Tuesday.
Likewise, price of silver reached Rs. 1,295 per tola on Wednesday. A significant rise in the gold price in the international market has contributed to the increase of price in the local market for the last few months, said Tej Ratna Shakya, a gold trader.
The price of gold has increased by more than Rs. 24,000 per tola in the last four months. The price of gold was Rs. 77,000 per tola on March 23, 2020.
Gold price was Rs. 28.25 per tola in 1926, Rs. 200 per tola in 1968 and Rs. 8,520 per tola in 1995. Similarly, price of silver was 75 paisa per tola in 1926, Rs. 4.50 in 1968 and Rs. 121 per tola in 1995.
The demand of gold in the international market has been growing over the last few months as investors are encouraging to invest in gold over others due to COVD-19, Shakya said.
Gold price in the international market has increased by US$ 39 per ounce to US$ 2,014 today. Per ounce is equal to 31.10 grams. The international market analysers predicted that the price of gold would reach $ 2,300 per ounce in the international market. It means the price in Nepal would reach Rs. 112,000 per tola.
Shakya said that the demand of gold has been almost nil in the local market, except people buying it for some cultural purposes.
Display boards fail to show six-digit price
Digital display board installed by the gold traders at their shops could not display its price from today since the boards were made for only five digits.Gold traders had installed the price display board after a government’s decree made it mandatory a year ago.
The boards were installed by Infinity Company which charged Rs. 2,000 per year for the service. The price would be displayed after the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association’s fixes the price of the day. The traders have already informed the FENEGOSIDA and Infinity about the inconvenience.
No impact on foreign currency reserve
However, the increase price of precious metal had made no significant impact on the foreign currency reserve.

“There is no impact on the country’s foreign currency reserve due to the increase of gold price. The banks are not importing gold as the demand has faltered,” Dr. Gunakar Bhatta, spokesperson of Nepal Rastra Bank told The Rising Nepal.
He said that the bullion market and the jobs in the sector were affected badly after the transaction dropped.
According to Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA), the banks have 275 kilogram of gold in stock, and they had not imported gold since Mach 20. Increment in price and lockdown had affected the gold market badly.
The banks imported around 2,400 kilogram of gold in the last fiscal year 2019/20.
NBA data showed that the traders have collected around 46 kilograms gold from banks within last 10 days.
The government had reduced gold import quota to 10 kilogram from 20 kilograms a day in March end following the enforcement of lockdown.