Gold crosses $1,900 an ounce after nine years

Dubai: Gold has finally shot past the $1,900 an ounce mark, as US-China tensions and the worries about the pandemic stalling growth finally pushed the metal to a nine-year high.

This was enough to settle the Dubai price for 22K at its highest ever point - of Dh215.5 a gram and beating the Dh215 of September 2011. (In addition, there is also the 5 per cent VAT on any purchase of gold other than as a bar.)

On January 1, 2020, gold was at $1,524 an ounce.

The previous time gold went past $1,900 was in the first week of September, 2011. And the rally continued until it touched $1,921 an ounce on September 6, 2011. 

All through Friday morning, trading of the metal on the metals market was heavy, with price hovering at the $1,888 level. But it was always a question of when, and not if, gold would breach $1,900.

In the last six months, gold had shot up by more than $310 an ounce.

Shoppers stay on sidelines

None of this will matter much to gold shoppers in the UAE. The retail category has seen limited activity since March, first with COVID-19 and then the rapidly rising price of gold deterring buyers.

They will return only when gold prices are seen as having stabilised... or dropped a few dollars.

“These are historic times for gold - the last time the Dubai price was quoted this high was in September 2011," said Cyriac Varghese, General Manager at Sky Jewellery. "Prices in India too are at their highest ever for the past few weeks due to the rupee's depreciation in comparison with the exchange rate that prevailed in 2011."