Gold prices steady at B18,700

Gold prices were unchanged on Tuesday from the previous close on Monday.

The Gold Traders Association announced at 9.25am on Tuesday the buying price at 18,600 baht and the selling price at 18,700 baht per baht-weight for gold bars.

The buying price for gold ornaments was 18,328.44 while their selling price was 19,100 baht per baht-weight.

In world markets, gold traded near the lowest level in nine months, on course for the first quarterly loss this year, as prospects for higher US borrowing costs boosted the dollar to its best quarter since the financial crisis, according to Bloomberg.

Bullion for immediate delivery traded at $1,217.14 an ounce by 9.22am in Singapore from $1,215.81 yesterday, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal has declined 8.3% since the end of June, dropping on Sept 25 to $1,207.04, the lowest level since Jan 2 and within 0.5% of erasing this year’s gains that were partly fuelled by tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Gold sank 28% in 2013 on expectations the Federal Reserve will reduce asset purchases as the economy improves. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index has risen 6.6% this quarter, the most since the three months to September 2008. Fed policy makers have raised US interest-rate forecasts, while central banks from Europe to Japan and China maintained or expanded monetary stimulus to spur their economies.