INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
earlier this week fuelled an uptick in physical gold demand in Singapore and India, with activity in the market also gathering pace ahead of
key festivals.However, overall activity was muted due to the golden week holiday in top bullion consumer China.In Singapore, sellers charged
premiums between 50 and 70 cents an ounce over the benchmark, versus 50-80 cents last week.Global benchmark spot gold prices fell to their
week as prices went down briefly below the $1,500 mark
We believe this psychological benchmark will continue to affect investors' decisions on what the right time for buying is," said Joshua
Rotbart, managing partner at J
Rotbart - Co in Hong Kong.Traders also hoped demand would increase in the final quarter as India gears up for festivals such as Diwali and
Dussehra, when buying gold is considered auspicious."Generally, during this period, jewellers take time to increase purchases to have more
variety in jewellery," said Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore dealer GoldSilver.The market was also helped by a dip in domestic
prices with gold futures trading around 38,200 rupees per 10 grams on Friday after falling to Rs 36,771 on Wednesday, the lowest since
a bullion merchant in the southern city of Hyderabad."But from Thursday again, demand started faltering due to a rebound in prices."Dealers
offered discounts of up to $21 an ounce over official domestic prices on Friday, up from a discount of $10 on Wednesday and about $40 last
a Mumbai-based dealer with a bullion importing bank.In India, gold imports plunged 68 per cent year-on-year in September to their lowest in
over three years as record domestic prices curbed retail buying, a government source said.In Hong Kong, gold sellers were charging premiums
of $0.30-$0.50 versus last week's 50 cents to $1 range, with drawn out protests in the financial hub taking their toll on jewellery
demand, dealers said."After the mainland China market opens, we could see some good demand," said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung
Precious Metals.In Japan, gold was sold at par with the benchmark, a Tokyo-based trader said, adding a twice-delayed increase in sales tax
has also deterred gold buyers.Get Breaking news, live coverage, and Latest News from India and around the world on TheIndianSubcontinent.com
Catch all the Live TV action on TheIndianSubcontinent 24x7 and TheIndianSubcontinent India
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for latest news and live news updates.
