Karachi Bullion Market Reels as Global Gold and Silver Prices Tumble Sharply
KARACHI: Gold prices in Pakistan just took a dramatic single-session fall. The per-tola rate crashed to Rs 467,936 after shedding Rs 15,100, bullion dealers in Karachi confirmed Saturday.
Karachi didn't cause this. International bullion markets did. Gold and silver both fell sharply worldwide, and the drop reached local sarafa bazaars within hours of the international close.
Ten-gram gold closed at Rs 401,179, down Rs 12,946. Dealers blamed a broad bearish wave in the global bullion market strong enough, they said, to swamp whatever local demand or supply factors might otherwise have softened the fall.
Also Read: Gold Price Jumps Rs5,700 as Three-Day Surge Hits Rs18,900
The international numbers explain why. Gold per ounce closed at $4,454 after tumbling roughly $151, a fall large enough to unsettle gold-linked economies everywhere, Pakistan included. Silver told the same story: global silver per ounce dropped 4.48 percent to $66.15, while Pakistan's local silver market saw per-tola rates fall Rs 397 to Rs 7,112.
Pakistan recently changed how it calculates local gold prices, which makes this particular crash sting more. The revised mechanism sets the domestic rate a flat $20 per ounce above the international benchmark. It keeps local prices tied closely to whatever happens abroad.
Gold has carried its safe-haven reputation for centuries. Investors turn to it when inflation rises, currencies wobble, or politics gets shaky and money tends to flow into it, not out, whenever other assets look unreliable. That's what makes Saturday odd. This decline broke the usual pattern. The actual trigger profit-taking, dollar strength, shifting rate expectations, futures liquidation, or a wider retreat from risk assets isn't confirmed yet and needs more reporting before anyone calls it.
For wedding-season shoppers and small investors, the Rs15,100 decline offers immediate relief from recent highs, although another sharp move could quickly change the equation.
For now, dealers in Karachi's bullion markets say they're bracing for more volatility, not less.