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Zimbabwe's central bank has launched gold coins in an effort to help curb soaring inflation amid a slump in the country's currency.
The central bank's main interest rate was more than doubled this month to 200% after the annual rate of inflation rose above 190%.
Each coin will be priced at the international market rate for an ounce of gold plus 5% for production costs.
As of Friday, an ounce was worth about $1,724 (£1,435).
It will be possible use the coins in shops, if they have enough change, according to the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya.
The coin is called "Mosi-oa-Tunya" which means "The Smoke Which Thunders" and refers to Victoria Falls, on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Zimbabwe's dollar slumped in value against major currencies this year.
The country still remembers the economic chaos under the late Robert Mugabe, who ruled for almost four decades.
Hyperinflation forced it to abandon the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009, and it opted instead to use foreign currencies, mainly the US dollar.
During the worst of the crisis the government stopped publishing official inflation figures but one estimate put the inflation rate at 89.7 sextillion percent year on year in mid-November 2008.
At the time, the one hundred billion Zimbabwe dollar bank note was seen as an emblem of the nation's economic collapse.
The local currency was reintroduced a decade later but it has rapidly lost value again. - BBC.com
Gold is trading offered at the start of the week as the US dollar firms despite data that showed on Friday US business activity shrunk for the first time in nearly two years in July as a services slowdown outweighed manufacturing growth.
At the time of writing, XAU/USD is trading at $1,722.30 within a range of between $1,719.98 and $1,727.66.
On Friday, the US Composite PMI Output Index tumbled far more than expected to 47.5 this month from a final reading of 52.3 in June indicating the US could be headed for a recession.
However, the greenback found some support from safe-haven flows late on Friday while investors' stepped aside from stocks on the back of some weak earnings reports.
Nevertheless, as per the prior analysis, Gold price could be on the verge of a significant correction, Fed meeting will be decisive, the gold price has mitigated a significant price imbalance on the weekly chart ahead of a critical event in this week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting. - FxStreet.com
Gold prices were trading largely unchanged on Monday. Lower treasury yields and a slight pullback in the US dollar supported the sentiments for bullion. However, traders braced for a 75-basis-point interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.
The US Fed is scheduled to meet this week to discuss the monetary roadmap.
Gold futures on MCX NSE -0.52 % were trading marginally up by 0.05 percent or Rs 26 at Rs 50,671 per 10 grams. However, silver futures plunged by 0.30 percent or Rs 166 at Rs 54,965 per kg.
Although gold is seen as a hedge against inflation, rising interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding bullion, which yields nothing on its own.
Gold prices have dropped more than $350, or 16 per cent, since scaling above the $2,000-per-ounce level in early March due to the Fed's rapid rate hikes and the dollar's recent rally.
In the spot market, the highest purity gold was sold at Rs 50,816 per 10 grams while silver was priced at Rs 55,009 per kg on Friday, according to the Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.
The spot prices of gold jumped about Rs 850 per 10 grams in the last session, whereas silver rallied more than Rs 1,100 per kg.
The rising inflation has driven investors to inflation hedged assets. The dollar witnessed selling from highs and rising concerns over US economic growth have increased the gold demand, said Ravi Singh, Vice President and Head of Research, ShareIndia. - EconomicTimes
According to advanced prints from CME Group for gold futures markets, open interest retreated for the third session in a row, this time by around 5.7K contracts.
Volume followed suit and shrank by nearly 40K contracts.
Monday’s pullback in gold prices was amidst shrinking open interest and volume, hinting at the probability of further gains in the very near term.
While price action in bullion appears consolidative, it could attempt a move higher to the $1,740 region per ounce troy in the short-term horizon. - FxStreet.com
Gold prices rose on Tuesday on the back of a weaker dollar, but we're stuck in a tight range as investors refrained from taking big bets ahead of a possible aggressive US interest rate hike.
Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,724.45 per ounce, as of 0311 GMT. US gold futures gained 0.3 percent to $1,723.60 per ounce.
The dollar slipped for a fourth straight session, down 0.2 percent against its rivals, making gold less expensive for buyers holding other currencies.
It seems like the market is most importantly waiting for the Fed announcement," said Ilya Spivak, a currency strategist at DailyFX.
"However, markets over the past two weeks have been consistent with gold picking up and the dollar pulling back, suggesting they are kind of getting comfortable with where the rates outlook they think is going."
The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday.
A hike of that magnitude would effectively close out pandemic-era support for the economy.
Expectations around a 100-bp rate hike surged after US annual consumer prices saw their sharpest spike in more than four decades in June.
Indicative of sentiment, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.06 percent to 1,005.29 tonnes on Monday.
Elsewhere, spot silver rose 0.6 percent to $18.52 per ounce, platinum gained 0.8 percent to $886 and palladium was steady at $2,009. - deccanherald.com
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