The domestic gold price moved up to K4.51 million per tical (0.578 ounce or 0.016 kilogramme) again on 4 April after the spot gold price ploughed to a record high of over US$2,300 per ounce on 3 April.
At present, kyat depreciated at K3,850 against the US dollar. Despite the gold price rally in the domestic market, the Yangon Region Gold Entrepreneurs Association (YGEA) set the reference price at K3.99 million per tical, showing a large gap of over K500,000 per tical with the actual market value.
The pure gold price hit an all-time high of K4.535 million per tical on 30 March 2024.
The YGEA notified on 30 March that inspections are undertaken against those allegedly manipulating the market through a verbal deal.
Seven big gold shops in Yangon issue daily market prices three times a day. Nonetheless, those price speculators are attempting to raise the price by misleading price information that is not an actual transaction rate in the market. The YGEA condemned those unscrupulous traders and their dishonest acts. The YGEA asked its members to inform law enforcement agencies of the news regarding those manipulators.
The authorities are inspecting those alleged price speculators with the verbal deal in the market.
The YGEA also requested on 16 March that their members follow the YGEA’s reference price and warned them not to be involved in those verbal deals of the brokers.
The spot gold price rally and kyat depreciation to K4,000 against a US dollar in the foreign currency exchange market pushed up the gold price to a record high of K4 million per tical. — NN/EM
