A strong recovery in gold market sales during Ramadan

Gold sales at Souq Waqif witness a strong recovery during the holy month of Ramadan. Market traders said that sales are good despite the high prices, which they described as simple and acceptable. Trader Mazen Mansour Saleh said that the month of Ramadan witnesses visits by many shoppers, and most customers take gifts during this holy month. Trader Abdul Aleem Al Yafei adds that the gold market is witnessing a continuous boom, which has been multiplied by tourists, especially Gulf tourism and visitors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Al-Yafei adds that popular designs are witnessing more demand than others, as well as drums and beads of Bahraini gold. Regarding the timing of the turnout of shoppers, the merchants said that the turnout of visitors begins with the opening of the market from nine o’clock in the morning until one o’clock in the evening, as the shift system is being worked on, adding that the turnout is increasing and the peak is in the evening times after nine o’clock at night. The recovery of the local market coincides with gold’s strengthening of its gains globally, although gold futures ended Friday’s trading with a loss, and failed to stabilize above the key level of $2,000 an ounce, but it recorded weekly gains for the fourth time in a row, with concerns spreading due to tensions in the global banking sector. And the prices of gold futures contracts, at the close, turned downward – after they had surpassed the 2014 level of dollars an ounce earlier in the trading – to decline by 0.6 percent, losing 12.1 dollars, at the level of 1983.8 dollars an ounce. While gold contracts recorded an increase of 0.5 percent in total trading for the week. The price of immediate delivery of gold fell by 0.8 percent, losing about $ 16, at the level of $ 1977 an ounce. It is estimated that gold has the potential to rise over the past period, with the precious metal expected to show high levels of sensitivity to major economic reports, including inflation in the United States. And gold futures prices closed at the settlement of transactions, the day before yesterday, Thursday, recording the highest level in more than a year. Bank shares fell sharply in Europe, at the close of trading yesterday, with shares of Deutsche Bank and the (UBS) group affected by fears that the worst problems in the banking sector since the crisis of 2008. Deutsche Bank shares fell by 8.5 percent at the close, After a sharp jump in the cost of insurance against the risk of default, and this comes after the collapse of two US regional banks earlier this month. Gold’s performance was affected by the Federal Reserve’s announcement of raising the interest rate by a quarter of a point – at a pace less than expected – with reference to the possibility of another increase during the current year. Estimates indicate that the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of the monetary tightening cycle, giving gold and stocks an opportunity to acquire the dollar.