Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: long-gone who wrote (19882)	9/27/1998 11:24:00 AM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

Indian festivals fail to boost Dubai gold demand 10:54 a.m. Sep 27, 1998 Eastern By Hilary Gush DUBAI, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The start of the Indian festival season has done little to boost demand for gold through Dubai, traders in the downtown souk said on Sunday. ''Dubai is a dying market. Even though it is the beginning of the festival season gold demand has not picked up,'' a leading Dubai precious metals trader said. ''Diwali is only about three weeks away but we have not seen any demand.'' The nine nights of the Hindu Navratri period end in the middle of next week with the Dasera celebration of good over evil. That is followed by the main Diwali festival of lights in the third week of October. ''These are bad times. From Dasera onwards it should start picking up,'' said another large market player. Traders said the effects of last year's easing of Indian gold market import rules continued to be felt, with gold flowing directly from refining sources to India, bypassing Dubai. ''The scenery has completely changed since the opening up of the Indian market. At the moment there is no demand from India. The Dubai market has been sidelined,'' a trader said. ''Indian banks are offering gold from consignment stocks ex-vault at a premium of 85 to 90 cents -- the same as the Dubai premium,'' he said. This meant that there was no sense in Indian buyers purchasing gold from Dubai, once the major source of the metal for the subcontinent. Last year Dubai re-exported 660 tonnes of gold to India, which consumed a total 737 tonnes in the year. On Sunday, Dubai's benchmark ten-tola bar was quoted at 4,065 dirhams ($1,107), up on last week's 4,037 dirhams, thanks mainly to the rise in spot gold prices on the world market. A TT bar is 3.746 ounces of 24 carat gold. International spot gold was last quoted on Saturday at $294.00/294.50 an ounce from around $292 a week earlier. Traders said the Dubai market was also feeling the weight of a government decision to start enforcing a Dubai hallmark rule, approved in 1993, in the middle of November. ''The market is in a state of flux because of the government decision to introduce the hallmark. The trade is frozen. This is the worst month my business has had in the last seven or eight years,'' a major wholesaler said. ''I haven't sold a thing to retailers in the last 20 days.'' He said that, even though a Dubai hallmark would benefit the trade in the long term, retailers were concerned that inspections by the Dubai Assay Office from November 15 would unearth some gold pieces with 0.5 percent variation around their stated carat quality. ''The 0.5 percent variation has so far been acceptable within the trade. But we are asking the authorities to give us six months to get rid of the old stock before the inspections,'' he added. Retailers were concerned that they would be penalised, by being fined or jailed, if any gold pieces at their outlets were found to be of lower-than-stated quality. They were now focusing on getting rid of stocks and suspending purchases of new items from wholesalers. ($1-3.67 dirhams) Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited