Gold rate today: 24k tola down Rs 4,994 to Rs 448,875 as spot slips to $4,314

Gold fell for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday. Our 24k gold tracker reads Rs 448,875 a tola in the afternoon, down Rs 4,994 from Tuesday's Rs 453,869. Ten grams of 24k works out to about Rs 384,850.

The All Pakistan Gems and Jewellers Sarafa Association put its own rate at Rs 453,936 a tola, down Rs 1,800 on the day, and Rs 389,176 for ten grams. Its silver rate is Rs 7,008 a tola, down Rs 30.

Internationally, spot gold is around $4,314 an ounce, down about $18. The pressure is still coming from oil: crude has now fallen for a seventh session on the US-Iran talks, which takes the heat out of the inflation trade that had been pushing money into bullion. The rupee is not adding anything either way, closing at 277.20 to the dollar, a gain of one paisa.

What the fall is worth in cash

• One tola: Rs 4,994 cheaper than Tuesday on the tracker
• A 5-tola purchase: Rs 24,970 cheaper
• A 10-gram chain: about Rs 4,280 cheaper
• A 3 to 4 tola wedding set: roughly Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 cheaper before making charges

The other karats on the tracker: 22k at Rs 411,469 a tola and 21k at Rs 392,766. Silver on the tracker is Rs 6,804 a tola, down Rs 214.

Two different gold numbers, and why

The tracker figure is the international spot price converted at the interbank dollar rate, which is at Rs 277.21 today. The sarafa association publishes its own rate once the local market opens in the morning, and it usually sits a few thousand rupees above parity because of import cost, the open-market dollar and local demand. Today the gap is about Rs 5,000 a tola, which is wider than usual and reflects the association holding its morning rate while spot kept sliding through the day.

Neither number is wrong. If you are buying or selling over a counter, the association rate is the one that applies on the day. If you are watching the trend, the tracker moves first, and it is what this page follows.

Jewellers in Karachi's Saddar and Lahore's Anarkali add labour (banwai) on top of whichever rate applies, usually 8 to 15 per cent depending on the design, so the counter price will be higher than any published tola figure.

Before you buy

Ask for the day's rate in writing, ask what karat you are being sold, and ask for making charges as a separate line rather than folded into a single price. Our gold converter checks a tola price against grams and karats before you pay.

If you are working out zakat on jewellery, the zakat calculator runs off the current rate. Gold is the largest single item in most Pakistani households' zakat base, so a falling rate changes the number you owe as well as the number you pay.

A note for sellers: a shop buying your gold back will quote below the day's rate and will deduct for karat and weight loss. Four falling sessions in a row widen that spread, so get more than one quote in the same bazaar on the same morning.