Gold opened the new business week in Pakistan at Rs427,736 per tola for 24-karat metal, holding the level it reached on Saturday after a Rs300 rise (Pakistan Observer; Daily Pakistan).
Rates issued by the All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association put 22-karat gold at Rs394,454 a tola, 21-karat at Rs376,525 and 18-karat at Rs322,735. Ten grams of 24-karat opened at Rs366,714 (Pakistan Observer; Business Recorder).
International spot gold opened at $4,053 an ounce, up $3 on the previous session. Silver eased, with the per-tola rate opening at Rs6,297 after a Rs12 decline (Pakistan Observer).
Traders attribute the cautious tone to geopolitical uncertainty and to expectations that persistent inflation could delay interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve — the two forces that have kept bullion elevated through the Gulf conflict.
Fuel prices are also holding. Petrol remains at Rs335.18 a litre, high-speed diesel at Rs383.46 and kerosene at Rs301.14, after the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority left rates untouched through to July 27. The reason is mechanical rather than political: Platts benchmarks are not published at the weekend, and the daily revision mechanism introduced on July 17 has nothing to price against (Aaj English TV; ARY News; Daily Ausaf).
The pause follows five consecutive increases that added Rs28.71 to a litre of petrol between July 17 and July 25.
The direction of the next revision now depends on a barrel price that has moved sharply against the trend of the past fortnight: Brent has fallen back under $100, down around four per cent to roughly $96, after the United States paused strikes on Iran for a second day.
