The price of pure gold was back to decline to K3.45 million per tical (0.578 ounce or 0.016 kilogramme) on 8 November 2023 in the grey market following spot gold price slide to US$1,965 per ounce.
The pure gold price gained at K3.55 million per tical as the spot gold price rallied to US$1,993 per ounce on 4 November.
The figures indicated a decrease of $28 per ounce and around K100,000 per tical within a few days.
Yangon Gold Entrepreneurs Association (YGEA) set the reference price of pure gold at K3.07 million per tical. There is a large price gap of K400,000 between the reference price and the grey market price.
YGEA switched to the Central Bank of Myanmar’s exchange rate (K2,900) for interbank transactions in calculating the reference price for pure gold. At present, the US dollar is exchanged at K3,250 in the grey market.
The US dollar exchange rate, therefore, influenced the gap between the domestic gold market value and YGEA’s reference gold price.
The soaring dollar exchanging up to K4,000 drove the gold price up to a record high of K4 million per tical in late August 2023. — NN/EM
