Gold Platforms Stop Gold Pricing after 21-Karat Reaches EGP1, 800

ISagha platform for trading gold and jewelry via the Internet stopped publishing the movement of gold prices in the local markets, during Monday’s trading, due to market instability.

The platform added, in a statement, that this came “as a result of manipulation in moving prices to unprecedented levels,” noting that the price of a gram of 21 karat gold exceeded the level of EGP 1,800, despite the stability of the trading price of an ounce on the global stock exchange, at the level of $1,797.

“The platform stopped the price movement until the market stabilizes, in light of the existence of crude manipulation under the illusions of supply and demand, in addition to the existence of a discrepancy in prices within the market,” Saeed Imbaby, CEO of the "iSagha" platform, said.

He added that gold prices witnessed strong movements yesterday, Sunday, despite the weekly holiday and the cessation of trading in the markets, which proves the existence of speculation, manipulation, and a monopoly in the commodity with the aim of raising prices, in addition to pricing a dollar in the parallel market that exceeded about EGP 36.

The price of a gram of gold set a new record, reaching its highest level ever in the local market, reaching EGP 1800 per gram of 21 karat, compared to EGP 1475 per gram at the end of November, marking an increase of EGP 325 per gram since the beginning of this month.

The price of gold had increased until Sunday evening’s trading by 107.5 percent since the beginning of 2022, and the price of a 21-karat gram increased by EGP 855, reaching EGP 1650, compared to EGP 795 at the end of 2021.

This coincided with the rise in the average price of the dollar against the pound in banks by about EGP 8.85 (56.2 percent) during the same period, to reach about EGP 24.53 for purchase, and EGP 24.61 for sale on Sunday, according to Central Bank data.

While the international gold prices declined slightly during the same period, the price of an ounce fell since the beginning of the month by about $32 (by 1.7 percent), to reach about $1,798 by the end of last Friday’s trading.

The two factors affecting the pricing of local gold are the international prices of the metal, in addition to the exchange rate of the dollar against the pound.