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ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER 20 April 2013 10 Jumada II 1434 - Volume 18 Number 5675 Price: QR2 ON SATURDAY Hamas leaders meet in Qatar amid unity drive DOHA: Leaders of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas met in Qatar yester- day amid renewed impetus for a unity government after the resignation of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Newly re-elected Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal chaired the meeting, which was attended by Hamas leaders from Gaza, including its Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya. “The meeting began on Thursday and will continue until Saturday,” a Palestinian official said. Hamas leaders will discuss “Palestinian reconciliation, developments in the Palestinian arena following Fayyad’s resignation, as well as ways of pressing Israel to release Palestinian prisoners,” he said. $10bn US arms deals with Israel, Saudi, UAE WASHINGTON: The United States unveiled plans yesterday to sell $10bn worth of advanced missiles and aircraft to Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in a bid to counter the threat posed by Iran. It was unusual for the Pentagon to announce an arms deal covering three countries and the move seemed to be designed to send a warn- ing to Iran that US partners in the region were beefing up their military power. See also page 9 LOSING Boston bomb suspect eludes police WATERTOWN: Black Hawk helicop- ters and heavily armed police descended on a Boston suburb yesterday in a massive search for an ethnic Chechen suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings, hours after his brother was killed by police in a late-night shootout. Officials identified the hunted man as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and the dead sus- pect as his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed on Thursday night in the working class suburb of Watertown. THE ISSUE Full report on page 9 Maduro sworn in Now that gold prices have been and coins that come in different sizes and are An outlet said in just two hours it sold out Venezuela president falling, leading to a mad rush popular investment avenues for a vast majority some 800 gold bars of standard size (116 grams) of particularly limited-income Asian and Arab some two days ago. CARACAS: Nicolas Maduro was sworn for the precious metal in the expatriates. As for coins, its stock of some 2,000 of vari- in as Venezuela’s president yesterday at a country, the question uppermost in The bars that are made of 24-carat gold are ous sizes were gobbled up by gold-crazy buyers ceremony attended by leaders from Iran available in various sizes beginning from five, in just a few days. to Brazil after a decision to widen an everybody’s mind is if the decline 10, 20 and 30 grams to 50, 100, 116 grams and Another outlet said heavy demand forced it electronic audit of the vote took some of will continue — and if so, for how a kg and even 12kg. to procure two fresh consignments together the heat out of a dispute over his election. long — or the trend would cease Coins are made of 24 and 22 carats and come weighing some 40kg but the entire stock was Maduro, a bus driver-turned-foreign in different sizes, the most popular being five, exhausted in a short span of time. minister who became the late Hugo Chavez’s and the rates will go up again. 10, 20 and 30-gram ones, according to bullion Jewellery shops do have bars and coins as chosen successor, narrowly beat opposition traders. well but are selling at relatively higher prices. challenger Henrique Capriles in the election ocal bullion traders and jewellers who, Some known outlets that sell bars and At a shop on Thursday, for example, a 116- last Sunday. obviously, have much at stake if gold coins have been reporting shortages of stocks gram bar was sold for over QR19,700 when See also page 9 prices keep taking a beating, do not off and on over the past few days since gold the actual market rate was around QR19,000, Lbelieve the downward trend would prices began plummeting much to the chagrin said buyers. Musharraf arrested continue longer than a few days or weeks at of enthusiastic buyers, many of whom said they However, arguably none of them lodged a ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former mili- the most. had to return dejected. complaint with the Consumer Protection tary ruler Pervez Musharraf was moved “It’s a temporary phase, and we believe that Some skeptics say they suspect the outlets Department of the Ministry of Business into police custody after being arrested in the worst scenario prices may plummet to are fooling them and reporting shortages to and Trade, the state-run consumer rights’ yesterday, an unprecedented move QR150 a gram (of pure, 24-carat gold) only to hoard stocks to offload when prices rebound. watchdog. against a former army chief of staff surge again,” said a bullion trader not wanting Market sources, however, reject such accusa- As for the falling gold rates, most in the bul- ahead of key elections. his name in print, insisting that this was his tions as baseless. lion and jewellery trade — and surprisingly, also A magistrate ordered him under house PAGEpersonal opinion. 6 They say it only reflects the frustration of a majority of people — here appear to believe arrest for two days, but hours later he was It is interesting to note that while gold jew- those who want to buy coins and bars but are that the prices would rebound sooner rather moved to police headquarters over the sack- ellery is available aplenty in local shops, buy- not able to due to quick uptake of stocks owing than later. ing of senior judges while he was in power. ers are having a hard time accessing gold bars to frenzied demand. Continued on page 2 See also page 12 AGENCIES www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 APRIL 20, 2013 ON SATURDAY 02 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com Home Cashing in on price fall BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB many turned to jewellery. People to avoid erosion in their savings of limited size and capacity trying of many nationalities — mostly due to inflation, and to sell when to rescue an unlimited number aking advantage of a Asians — thronged jewellery shops the market was bullish. of people trapped in a whirlpool. sharp fall in prices of to buy gold at a price about 10-15 The sharp decline in the prices As all of them climbed into the gold, many people in percent higher than the price of of gold was not unprecedented. boat, it couldn’t bear everybody’s TQatar have gone on a bullion, as jewellers add making Everything that goes up has to weight, and capsized. gold buying spree despite fore- charges to their creations. Items come down, sooner or later. Due Another reason for the high casts of a further fall in the price made of 22-carat and 21-carat to a continuous rise in demand for supply and low demand could be of the yellow metal to $1,250 per gold were selling for QR157 and gold over the past 10 years, prices the central banks of some coun- ounce. QR150 per gram, respectively. had increased more than five-fold, tries, including China, Russia, Local bullion suppliers are run- Ornaments in 18-carat gold were from $330 per ounce to a peak of Mexico, Turkey and many oth- ning out of stock and are waiting available for QR130 per gram. $1,900 per ounce in August 2011. ers, who were net buyers until for fresh deliveries to meet the As gold prices fell by 13 per- Some bought gold speculating recently but are no longer buying surge in demand. The price of a cent in just two days a week ago, that the price would continue to gold and are instead exchanging one-tola bar (11.664 grams, 24 big investors worldwide lost bil- rise while others took refuge in it for dollars. Then there are the carats) at Al Fardan Exchange lions of dollars. The sharp drop in the yellow metal as an alternative countries trapped under huge Co was QR1,963 ($539.167) on prices took gold to two-year lows. to holding dollars as they feared piles of sovereign debt, which Thursday, but there was no gold Some who were exposed to the that stimulus programmes by the have started selling their gold to buy. most sought after metal lost over US would further weaken the reserves to bail out their finan- “Qatar’s gold market is differ- 20 percent of the value of their currency. cial systems. ent from the rest of the world. assets, making them think if it In a way, it worked like a boat THE PENINSULA We are seeing high demand for was the end of the metal’s era as gold but we have no stocks. Just a safe haven, after an impressive a couple of days ago we received 12-year bull run. two parcels of about 20kg each, The future price of gold in New Trend unpredictable but finished it within two days. York, for June delivery, went as People are buying in bulk despite low as $1,355.50 per ounce, mark- Continued from page 1 to 35 times less than its bail- negative forecasts for gold price,” ing an intraday fall of 9.7 percent ut that doesn’t seem to rep- out bill. However, those who said a senior official of Al Fardan — the steepest in percentage Bresent the broader view.