Gold rate today in Ottawa

Ottawa gold rate at a glance

The international price puts a gram of 24k gold in Ottawa at roughly 183.43 CAD today, with 22k at about 168.15 CAD. Per 10 grams, a common size for small bars and rate boards, that is about 1,834.32 CAD for 24k. These are spot-based figures, before any tax, premium or making charge.

The Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa

The Royal Canadian Mint has its headquarters at 320 Sussex Drive in Ottawa. The Mint says this historic building produces all of its collector coins and its gold and silver bullion, along with medals, medallions and tokens.

Ottawa is in Ontario, so jewellery bought here carries the 13% Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), the same rate as in Toronto.

What moves the gold price in Ottawa

Everything on a Ottawa rate board starts from the same place: the dollar price of gold (about $4,042.7 an ounce today) converted at the USD/CAD rate of 1.4113. The Canadian dollar is a commodity currency that often moves with oil and with US interest-rate expectations. A weaker loonie lifts the Canadian gold price even when gold is flat in New York.

The dollar price itself responds to US interest-rate expectations, the strength of the dollar, inflation data, central-bank buying and geopolitical risk. Our guide to what moves gold prices covers each in turn.

Premiums, making charges and tax in Ottawa

The shelf price in Ottawa is higher than the converted figure above. A shop adds the dealer's premium, GST/HST on jewellery (gold bullion of 99.5% purity or more is GST/HST-exempt) and the retailer's markup. On jewellery, making charges are built into the retail price of jewellery, so two pieces of the same weight and purity can carry very different prices. A gold quality mark may only be used on articles of at least 9 karats under the Precious Metals Marking Regulations, and investment gold must be 99.5% pure to be GST/HST-exempt.

Gold market hours in Ottawa

The international gold market trades almost around the clock on weekdays. In Ottawa the London–New York overlap, usually the busiest and most volatile part of the day, runs today from about 08:00–12:00 local time. The two LBMA Gold Price auctions in London, at 10:30 and 15:00 London time, fall at 05:30 and 10:00 in Ottawa, and major US data released at 08:30 New York time, such as payrolls and inflation, lands at 08:30 local time. The week's trading closes at 17:00 on Friday and reopens at 18:00 on Sunday, Ottawa time; over the weekend the price on this page is the last close. The Toronto Stock Exchange lists more mining companies than any other exchange, so Canada watches gold closely. Our gold market hours tool shows the sessions in any time zone.

Ottawa compared with Toronto

Ottawa and Toronto both price gold in CAD off the same international price and the same exchange rate, so the converted figure is identical: about 183.43 CAD per gram of 24k in both. Any difference at the counter comes from making charges, dealer premiums and how hard the shops compete.

How this CAD gold price is calculated

Three numbers decide everything on this page. First, the international gold price in US dollars per troy ounce: $4,042.7 at the last update. Second, the exchange rate: 1 USD = 1.4113 CAD. Third, the weight: one troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, and one tola is 11.6638 grams.

1. Price per gram in USD = $4,042.7 ÷ 31.1035 = $129.98.
2. Price per gram in CAD = $129.98 × 1.4113 = 183.43 CAD (24k, pure gold).
3. Price per 10 grams = 183.43 × 10 = 1,834.32 CAD.
4. For a lower purity, multiply by the fineness: 22k = 0.9167, 21k = 0.875, 18k = 0.75.

The gold price is the spot price of gold (XAUUSD) from a public real-time feed, refreshed every few seconds while the page is open; the 7-day table and the 30-session chart use COMEX gold futures closes, which usually sit a few dollars above spot. The exchange rate is a mid-market rate; the rate your bank or money changer gives you will be slightly different. If you want to do the maths yourself, our guide to converting the gold price per gram, tola and kilo walks through every step with worked examples.

What this price does not include

The figures above are the international spot price converted into local currency. They are the starting point for every retail price in Ottawa, but they are not the price you will pay or receive at a shop. The shop price adds some or all of these on top:

• Import duty or customs charges, where gold or jewellery is imported.
• GST/HST (goods and services tax), where the country charges one. Many countries tax jewellery but not investment bars; the sections above say what applies here.
• Dealer premium: the margin a bullion dealer or bank adds to the spot price for bars and coins, usually larger on small pieces.
• Making charges (labour) on jewellery, often a percentage of the gold value or a fixed amount per gram.
• Local supply and demand, which can push the physical price to a premium or a discount against the international price for weeks at a time.

When you sell, the buyer usually quotes below the spot-based number and deducts for purity testing, wear and sometimes stones. The gap between the buying and the selling price is the real cost of owning physical gold, and it varies a lot between shops, so it is worth asking several.

Frequently asked questions