Sri Lanka’s gold price has risen to a new high of Rs. 80,000 per sovereign gold, Colombo sea street jewelers said.
They noted that the drop in Colombo stock market trading, world market price hike in gold due to the impact of corona virus and short of supply to meet the demand were the reasons behind the local gold price increase.
The other reason was the smuggling of gold and gold jewellery to India by Sri Lankan smugglers creating shortage of gold in the island, they claimed.
Gold soared as much as 2.8% to its highest level in seven years, as investors worried about global economic growth in the face of sharply rising corona virus cases outside China.
Spot Gold climbed 1.7% at $1,671.24 per ounce. The session high, $1,688.66, was its highest since January 2013 US gold futures settled up 1.7% to $1,676.6.
“The markets are spooked right now,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures, citing corona virus fears, a foreign news agency reported.
There was a sharp rise in corona virus cases reported in Italy, South Korea and Iran, with Afghanistan and Iraq reporting their first cases. However, the rate of infection in China has eased.
Outside mainland China, the outbreak has spread to about 29 countries and territories, with a death toll of about two dozen, according to a Reuters tally.
The World Health Organization said it was worried about the growing number of cases without any clear link to China.
Investors view gold and other assets like government bonds and the U.S. dollar as safe havens during times of stress
(LI)