At 4.15 pm, buying price of a gold bar was Bt24,800 per baht weight and selling price Bt24,900, while buying price of gold ornaments was Bt24,346.96 per baht weight and selling price Bt25,400.

Prices dropped from the level in morning trade when buying rate of a gold bar was Bt25,150 with selling rate at Bt25,250, while gold ornaments cost Bt24,695.64 to buy and Bt25,750 to sell.

Meanwhile, gold contracts in COMEX futures increased by US$22.80, or 1.36 per cent, to $1,695.20 per ounce on Monday at 6.25 am Thailand time since investors turned to buy gold as a safe haven asset after the Dow Jones Index dropped sharply by 900 points due to declining oil prices and the Covid-19 outbreak.

Crude oil contracts in West Texas Intermediate which traded at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) market fell by $8.75, or 21.20 per cent, to $32.53 per barrel due to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners led by Russia unable to reach an agreement to cut oil production at a meeting in Vienna last Friday.

As a result, Saudi Arabia officially announced to cut oil price, signalling the beginning of a price war.