Gold prices dropped by nearly three dirhams per gram in the UAE on the first trading day of the week. In the UAE, the 24K variant of the precious metal was trading at AED 286.75 per gram at 9 am on Monday, compared to AED 289.5 per gram at the close of the markets on Friday.
Meanwhile, 22K, 22K, and 18K declined to AED 265.5, AED 257.0, and AED 220.25 per gram, respectively.
Spot gold was down at $2,369.69 per ounce at 9 am UAE time, marking a 0.71 per cent decrease. Despite the price drop, gold remains relatively high following a recent rally, reaching an all-time high earlier this month due to aggressive buying by central banks in February.
“Central bank purchasing appears to be the primary driver of the gold market lately,” stated commodity analysts at Swiss bank Julius Bar. “The World Gold Council reported that central banks continued to increase their gold reserves in February, driving gold prices to new record highs. We anticipate that central bank buying will remain robust and supportive of structurally higher gold prices, given ongoing geopolitical tensions and a desire to reduce dependence on the US dollar.”
“However, we do not anticipate a continual rise in purchasing, but rather a volatile sideways trend. In fact, data published last week indicates that this year’s volumes are significantly lower than last year’s,” added analysts.
