LOC15:19
12:19 GMT
KUWAIT, Feb 7 (KUNA) -- Gold price rose in past weekend to USD 1,170 per ounce, its highest in three months, an increase of nine percent, according to a report released on Sunday.
The price went up in beginning of the past week from USD 1,122 per ounce to USD 1,163 last Friday, before issuance of US market data of January, which was negative compared with latest months, added the report by Sabaek Al-Kuwait Company.
The negative data deepened the US economic problem, as the dollar weakened against main currencies. As a result, the gold price dropped to USD 1,150 per ounce in early hours of trading at the New York Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, the US markets witnessed some profit-taking operations by investors.
As for silver, it went up by 3.6 percent per ounce for the first time in three months to reach USD 14.77 in end of last week's trading, driven by weakness of the US dollar and American stock markets.
Silver's price is expected to swing between USD 14.5 and USD 15.3 per ounce, due to anticipation of the US central bank's response to the negative situations.
Other precious metals also rose in end of last week; plutonium climbed to USD 36 to close at USD 905 per ounce, while palladium stood at USD 502 per ounce at the closing session.
The local gold market was quite affected by repercussions of falling of oil prices, while there was a rebound in sales of gold ore and gold artifacts. Price of the 21 karats reached KD 10, 18 karats stood at KD 8.5 and price of a kilogram of gold ore hit KD 11,400, it said. (USD 1:00=KD 0.300).(end)
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