Travel demand has soared as domestic air ticket prices rise while trains and buses are full amid India’s festive season travel rush. “With the Dussehra festival approaching, retail demand is starting to pick up, but it is still much lower than usual. The record prices are causing many buyers to postpone their purchases,” said a Kolkata-based jeweller.
Indians will celebrate Dussehra on October 12, when the purchase of gold is considered auspicious. Indian traders offered discounts of up to $21 an ounce this week on official domestic prices, including taxes of 6% on imports and 3% on sales, compared to last week’s discount of $19.
Domestic prices jumped to a record of Rs 76,000 per 10 grams last week, an increase of almost 13% from a four-month low of Rs 67,400 hit on July 25.
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Jewelers are not confident about demand during the festive season and are slow to build up stocks, said a bullion trader at a Mumbai-based private bank.
Chinese markets were closed for the Golden Week holiday. Gold discounts at the major consumer widened last week to between $16 and $7 as demand remained weak.
In Hong Kong, gold was sold at a discount of $2 and a premium of $2.
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There has not been any particular interest in physical gold in Hong Kong and Singapore, and current market dynamics are favoring spot gold over physical gold, said Peter Fung, head of operations at Wing Fung Precious Metals, Hong Kong.
Singapore traders sold bars at a discount of $0.60 and a premium of $2.20.
“We continue to see more sales than purchases. Most retail buyers only made small purchases,” said Brian Lan of Singapore-based distributor GoldSilver Central.
In Japan, traders quoted a $0.25 discount to a $1 premium.
(With contributions from Reuters)
(Edited by: Jerome Antonio)
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