Gold prices surge to six-year high after US killing of Iranian commander

Gold prices have crossed Tk 60,000 per Bhori for the first time in six years.

Jewellers have cited a volatile global market after the death of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a US airstrike in Iraq.

The price of best quality gold will be Tk 60,361 a Bhori (11.664 grams) from Sunday, Bangladesh Jewellers Samity or Bajus said in a statement on Saturday.

The association has raised gold prices by Tk 1,166 per Bhori across the board.

New gold prices:

22 carat – Tk 60,361

21 carat – Tk 58,028

18 carat – Tk 53,013

For the traditional method, in which gold is acquired from old ornaments but there is no standard of purity, the price remains unchanged at Tk 40,241 per Bhori.

Silver price has also been kept unchanged at Tk 933 per Bhori.

Jewellers raised gold prices four times in August before cutting once in September last year. But in November, they raised the prices again, taking the best quality of the yellow metal beyond Tk 58,000 per Bhori.

Although US President Donald Trump insisted that he ordered the killing of Soleimani on Friday to avoid a war with Iran, continuing threats have further rattled foreign capitals and global markets.

On Wall Street, the stock market fell as oil prices jumped after the news of the general’s death: The price of Brent oil, the international benchmark, surged in the early hours of Hong Kong trading to nearly $70 a barrel — an increase of $3.

“The US-Iran tension has shaken the global gold market. Prices have risen by $52 per ounce (2.684 Bhori) in a day. We had no way but raising the prices,” Bajus General Secretary Dilip Kumar Agarwala told bdnews24.com.

Gold prices crossed Tk 60,000 a Bhori for the last time in 2013. In 2003, when the US started the war against Iraq, the prices rose to as high as Tk 70,000.