‘Gold prices drop to $2,017 per ounce’

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KUWAIT CITY, May 7: Gold prices declined at the end of last week, closing at USD 2,017 an ounce, after achieving a historic high of USD 2,072 an ounce last Wednesday. Gold declined by 1.5 percent, however, it maintained a level above USD 2,000 an ounce after data was issued from the US labor market, as the jobs report there showed an increase in employment by 253,000 jobs, while US unemployment declined to its lowest level in half a century at 3.4 percent, the Kuwaiti-based company Dar Al-Sabaek said in a report Sunday. The rise in US Treasury yields for two years and 10 years had a sharp impact on gold after it reached 3.9 percent and 3.44 percent respectively, as the strength of the dollar fell slightly by less than half a percent, the report added.

It explained that the World Gold Council indicated in a report that there was a decrease in demand for gold by 13 percent during the first quarter of this year on an annual basis, while the total supply of gold increased by one percent, driven by a record rise in mine production in the first quarter, which amounted to 856 tons, as these reasons had an impact on the decline in the price of gold last week.

Despite the decline in gold last week, analysts expect an increase in demand for gold as a successful alternative in economic crises, as a way to hedge against the possibility of any recession in the US, and this is what led to prices rising to a record level at USD 2,072 an ounce amid last week’s trading, it stated. Regarding the local market, the price of a 24-carat gram gold amounted to KD 20, while a 21-carat gram was KD 17.5, and the price of silver reached KD 296 per kilogram, it mentioned. The ounce is one of the units of measurement of mass, which is equal to 28.349 grams, while a troy ounce of gold equals 31.103 grams. (KUNA)

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