Asia Gold-Indian buyers pile in as prices dip to one-year low

SouthGobi Resources

05/03/2021 12:53

* Chinese premiums unchanged around $6-$7/oz
    * Increased activity in Singapore, Japan
    * Indian jewellers expecting further fall in prices- dealer

    By Rajendra Jadhav and Bharat Gautam
    March 5 (Reuters) - Retail consumers in India continued to
buy up physical gold this week as prices retreated to a near
one-year low, while lower rates also injected fresh activity in
other hubs, especially Singapore. 
    Dealers charged up to $5 an ounce over official domestic
prices, inclusive of 12.5% import and 3% sales levies, compared
with last week's premium of $4.
    "Demand has significantly improved in the past few days.
Retail buyers are making purchases, especially for weddings,"
said Mangesh Devi, a jeweller based in Satara in the western
state of Maharashtra. 
    On Friday, local gold futures  MAUc1  fell to 44,217 rupees
per 10 grams, a trough since April 7.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2K70TY
    Jewellers were also making healthy purchases in the first
half of the week, but now a few of them have paused expecting
further fall in prices, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a
bullion importing bank. 
    "Jewellers don't want to get stuck with high cost
inventory," the dealer said. 
     In Singapore, premiums of $1.60-$2 an ounce were charged, 
with strong demand arising from low local prices. 
     "We've seen an increase in demand, in particular from
retail clients, for both gold and silver, as prices have come
down a bit," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer
GoldSilver Central, adding that wholesalers are also covering
their short positions. 
    Chinese customers were charged premiums of about $6-$7 an
ounce over benchmark spot gold prices  XAU= , unchanged from
last week as demand was stable, but not high, dealers said. 
    In Hong Kong, dealers sold bullion at anywhere between a
discount of $3 and a premium of $2 relative to the benchmark.
Japanese dealers charged a premium of $0.50.
    A sharp dip in domestic rates has triggered relatively
strong investment demand, a trader at Tokyo-based retailer
Tokuriki Honten said.  JPYXAU=R 
    "Individual investors are seeing current price level as a
good buying opportunity," the trader added. 

 (Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam and Shreyansi Singh in
Bengaluru and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; editing by Arpan
Varghese and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
 ((BharatGovind.Gautam@thomsonreuters.com; +91-80-6182-3021/
3590 (If within U.S. call 651-848-5832 );))