Hi Bobby: You're mostly correct about nobody caring - septin some goldbugs : - ). Hope your internet problems have been cured............
Dubai festival punts gold bar sales
From Reuters
Dubai Dubai gold traders have pinned their hopes on a month-long shopping festival in the Gulf Arab emirate to help compensate for a seasonal lull in key Indian import buying, wholesalers and retailers said at the weekend.
The Dubai Shopping Festival, which starts this Wednesday, has been heavily promoted by the regional gold and jewellery industry to attract big jewellery and investment bar buyers as well as smaller, but cash-rich, retail buyers.
"The market is gearing up to the shopping festival ... prices are attractive right now," said one major importer of bullion into the tiny emirate.
Dubai's benchmark ten tola (TT) bar 3 746 ounces of 24-carat gold had moved up to 4 085 dirhams (about R5 542) yesterday, compared with 4 070 dirhams a week earlier, trade sources said. TT bars at last year's festival traded about 4 850 dirhams.
Yesterday's price included an unchanged premium of $1,25 an ounce, which is added to cover transport, insurance costs and trader margin. The premium at the end of February had briefly dipped to $1,00, traders said.
International spot gold was last quoted at $295,10/60 an ounce from $294,15/65 a week earlier. The trade in Dubai will be giving away 46 kg worth about $436 500 of gold over 31 days of the festival in promotional raffles and draws to boost buying.
About 8,5 tons of the metal was sold during last year's event, helping Dubai emerge as the world's largest gold redistribution centre. It lifted Gulf Arab gold demand by a year-on-year 21 percent to 142 tons last year. India's import demand for gold from Dubai was muted in the absence of seasonal, religious and wedding demand, traders said.
About 80 percent of the 660 tons of gold imported into Dubai last year was re-exported to India, itself the world's largest gold consumer.
Gold demand in India has been dulled recently because of the Hindu Holi festival, though Indian industry officials expect demand to rise sharply from next month when the Hindu marriage season starts. |
