The central bank today auctioned 8.74 kg gold at Rs 27.79 million and 31.31 kg of silver at Rs 1.77 million in the first ever auction of gold and silver in its history.
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has fixed the minimum bid price of Rs 3.11 million for per kg gold and Rs 52,240 for per kg silver for the auction today.
"However the highest trader bid for Rs 3.18 million for a kg of gold and Rs 56,590 for a kg of silver," said Gopal Kafle, spokesperson of the central bank.
"Nine traders -- seven bidders and two non-bidders -- bought gold and 10 bidders bought silver today," he added.
Though the central bank has been selling gold coins of different denomination, this is the first ever auction of precious yellow metal.
NRB had decided to auction 100 kg of gold and 1,000 kg of silver every Tuesday to meet the market demand after the government banned the gold and silver import to discourage smuggling of the precious yellow metal. The central bank has planned to sell 75 kg gold through auction and 25 kg for non-bidders. Non-bidder has to pay the highest bid price.
Though, the auction is expected to provide relief to both traders and the customers, traders seemed not interested, as according to them, the price fixed by the central bank is more than the today’s market price.
"Today's market price of gold was Rs 37,000 per tola (11.664 gram)," said Tej Ratna Shakya, president of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealer’s Association (Negosida). "But highest bidder quoted Rs 37,093 per tola -- that is Rs 93 more than the market price," he said.
Similarly, 31.31 kg silver was auctioned for Rs 660.09 per tola. "Silver was traded at Rs 645 per tola in the market today," he added.
The gold traders also complained of the bidding process and urged the central bank to make improvements in the process for the next time.
“The central bank should also agree for ‘Good for Payment’ and also accept check,” the traders said. "Due to lack of ‘Good for Payment' system also, very few gold traders took part in the bidding,” Shakya added.
The central bank has fixed the minimum price of the gold adding Rs 1,000 on the international price per 10 gram at noon today. The international price of gold at noon today was $1,257 per ounce.
Similarly the silver price will be fixed adding Rs 2,400 to the international market price per kg. "Auction for gold starts with one kg while it starts at 30 kg for silver," according to Kafle.
According to the traders, local market demand of gold is at 20 kg per day and it might rise to 30 kg during the festive season like Dashain and Tihar.
Nepal imported above Rs 45 billion wortg gold and silver -- Rs 41.63 billion worth gold and Rs 3.25 billion worth silver -- in the last fiscal year.
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