Stoppage of gold pricing after 21-carat reached LE 1,800

CAIRO - 5 December 2022: ISagha platform for trading gold and jewelry via the Internet stopped publishing the movement of gold prices in the local markets, during Monday’s trading, due to market instability.

 

The platform added, in a statement, that this came “as a result of manipulation in moving prices to unprecedented levels,” noting that the price of a gram of 21 carat gold exceeded the level of LE 1,800, despite the stability of the trading price of an ounce on the global stock exchange, at the level of $1,797.

 

“The platform stopped the price movement until the market stabilized, in light of the existence of crude manipulation under the illusions of supply and demand, in addition to the existence of a discrepancy in prices within the market,” Saeed Imbaby, CEO of the "iSagha" platform, said.

 

He added that gold prices witnessed strong movements during yesterday, Sunday, despite the weekly holiday and the cessation of trading in the markets, which proves the existence of speculation, manipulation, and a monopoly in the commodity with the aim of raising prices, in addition to pricing a dollar in the parallel market that exceeded about LE 36.

 

The price of a gram of gold set a new record, reaching its highest level ever in the local market, reaching LE 1800 per gram of 21 carat, compared to LE 1475 per gram at the end of November, marking an increase of LE 325 per gram since the beginning of this month.

 

The price of gold had increased until Sunday evening’s trading by 107.5 percent since the beginning of 2022, and the price of a 21-carat gram increased by LE 855, reaching LE 1650, compared to LE 795 at the end of 2021.

 

This coincided with the rise in the average price of the dollar against the pound in banks by about LE 8.85 (56.2 percent) during the same period, to reach about LE 24.53 for purchase, and LE 24.61 for sale on Sunday, according to Central Bank data.

 

While the international gold prices declined slightly during the same period, the price of an ounce fell since the beginning of the month by about $32 (by 1.7 percent), to reach about $1,798 by the end of last Friday’s trading.

 

The two factors affecting the pricing of local gold are the international prices of the metal, in addition to the exchange rate of the dollar against the pound.