Gold prices fall sharply in global markets

Gold prices have fallen in the international market. The strong US dollar and the US Federal Reserve's tough stance on interest rates continue to put pressure on the precious metal.

Spot gold prices fell 0.8 percent to $4,174.50 an ounce as of 2:34 pm Bangladesh time on Friday (June 19). US gold futures prices fell 1.2 percent to $4,192.80 an ounce.

Nikos Zabouras, senior market analyst at Tradu.com, told Reuters news agency, "There is a clear risk of gold prices falling below $4,000 an ounce. The precious metal is currently going through a challenging period. “Prolonged high interest rates are negative for non-interest-bearing assets, but positive for the dollar.”

According to the latest Fed forecast released on Wednesday (June 17), 9 out of 19 policymakers at the US central bank believe that the Fed may need to raise its policy rate further this year.

Meanwhile, investment bank Goldman Sachs has lowered its gold price forecast for December to $4,900 per ounce, from $5,400 previously. The company said that while its long-term view on gold prices is positive, it remains cautious in the short term.

Among other precious metals, silver fell 0.8 percent to $65.30 per ounce. Platinum fell 0.3 percent to $1,690.23 and palladium fell 0.2 percent to $1,275.29.

Meanwhile, the price of 22-carat gold per bhori in the domestic market is currently 228,556 taka. In addition, the price of 21-carat gold per bhori has been fixed at 218,292 taka, 187,440 taka and 153,148 taka per bhori of traditional gold.