Gold down over 4 % last week

The latest price lists show a decrease of over four percent in price of gold over the last week touching the USD 1,600 per ounce. A report by Zomoroda group said the precious metal suffered its biggest loss in three weeks when it slipped down from USD 1,696 per ounce influenced by factors including the still unsolved euro crisis. Wishing to compensate for losses in the trade in basic goods and bonds lured investors away from trading in gold. Negative data on Chinese economic growth and fears of bringing down French credit rating also helped cast the gloom. Still, forecasts predict the precious yellow metal would go up to USD 2,000 per ounce within sometime next year. The high exchange rate of the US dollar at present could mean stability in the price of gold, though it could well be the "calm before the storm". Any drop in US economic indices would bring the metal higher up on the long run. Should there be more credit rating drops of European banks, this could happen before the end of 2012. There was drop in prices of other metals as well with Platinum slipping over four percent on Thursday to reach USD 1,511 per ounce, with Palladium dipping below USD 580 per ounce before coming up again to USD 612 per ounce. The report noted that these drops are the sharpest since September 23, with silver leading the downward trend to USD 30 per ounce, though it went up again to USD 40 per ounce due to its increased popularity. As for local markets, there was a revival in sale of gold items compared to the previous weeks with the advent of Eid Al-Adha. Gold came to KD 14,300 per kilo, which is the biggest drop in three weeks, the report showed.