A gold bar was Bt25,150 per baht weight to buy and Bt25,250 to sell, while gold ornaments were Bt24,695.64 per baht weight to buy and Bt25,750 to sell.

The prices rose from the Saturday’s close of Bt24,800 to buy gold bar and Bt24,900 to sell, while gold ornaments cost Bt24,346.96 to buy and Bt25,400 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 6.25am Thailand time since investors turned to buy gold as safe haven assets 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 the oil price which signalling the beginning of the oil price war.