KARACHI: The price of gold retreated in the Pakistani local market to reach Rs135,900/tola on Saturday amid weakening local currency.

Gold 24kt gained Rs600/tola and Rs514/10grammes in the local market to hit Rs135,900/tola and Rs116,512/10grammes, respectively.

The precious metal recorded the all-time high of Rs136,000/tola on Thursday in the local market, as Pakistan’s forex reserves, widening trade deficit and uncertainty regarding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme kept the local unit under pressure.

The government is struggling to provide support to the local unit amid uncertain results of the talks with the IMF in the upcoming week for the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and delay in the finalisation of loan programmes from friendly countries further denting the value of rupee.

Silver remained unchanged at Rs1,560/tola and Rs1,337.44/10grammes, respectively, while the international Silver prices were recorded at $21.14 per ounce on Saturday.

Gold has been on the rise in the local market during most of the week due to deteriorating value of the rupee which continued making historic lows against the greenback.

The continuous depletion in the forex reserves resulting in the weakening of rupee, remains a challenge to arrest the prices of gold. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves dropped to their lowest level since December 2019 at $16.3 billion in the week ended May 6.

The country’s reserves declined by $178 million to $16.376 billion. The reserves held by the central bank decreased another $190 million to $10.31 billion.