India | UK | US

Diwali gold sales subdued in Gujarat

Posted : Sun, 11 Nov 2007 06:20:05 GMT
By : IANS
Category : India (Business)
News Alerts by Email ( click here )
India Business News | Home
Ahmedabad, Nov 11 - Gujarat celebrated Diwali with plenty to cheer but the dazzle was a shade muted as high gold prices made the yellow metal slide down on the must-buy list.

The spectacular bull-run on Indian stock markets was expected to boost the hunger for gold. But unrelenting rise of crude oil prices and weakening of the US dollar made gold a less attractive proposition.

People have preferred to invest on realty and lifestyle goods instead, say experts.

Suresh Kansara, managing director of Gujarat Gold Centre (refinery), said that compared to previous years, more people were selling old gold jewellery.

Sanat Jhaveri, secretary of the Ahmedabad Jewellers Association, confirmed that demand for gold had fallen.

He reported a 10-15 percent drop in gold jewellery purchases. People apparently made profits by selling old jewellery.

Almost 40 percent of India's sale of gold takes place during the Diwali season. Last year, gold sales during the festival time were 230 tonnes, out of a total of 715 tonnes sold in 2006-07, according to market sources.

V.K. Sharma of Anagram Securities, a leading stock broking firm here, attributed the increase in sales of lifestyle products and in real estate was due to the Sensex factor backed by corporate performance.

Another factor for low sales is the lack of purchases of gold by rich farmers. Most farmers prefer to invest in agriculture due to anticipated robust earnings from farm produce.

This year the groundnut crop is back in favour, and farmers expect a good crop. The compulsory reservation of 10 percent of corn to be diverted to bio-fuel production in Brazil and the US has opened a window of opportunity for growers.

Reports from China indicate that its agricultural season has not been good and it will import most of its commodity requirements, including from India.

Gujarat is one source China has always looked to for cotton and castor oil. Also, other crops - cereals and cash crops - are expected to fetch good money, thanks to incentives and better pricing formula of the central government.


(c) Indo-Asian News Service

Share/Save/Bookmark

Article : Diwali gold sales subdued in Gujarat
Print this article
Email this article

Stay Updated
News gadget on your Google homepage
Subscribe to a news feed in Google Reader


Related News

India's Suzlon sells stake in Belgian firm Hansen
New Delhi - Suzlon Energy, India's biggest wind-turbine maker Friday said it has sold a 35-per-cent stake in Belgian wind gearbox maker Hansen for 370 million dollars. Suzlon through its Netherlands-based subsidiary AE-Rotor Holding BV sold 236 milli...

Indian farmers protest for higher sugarcane prices - Summary
New Delhi - Thousands of sugarcane farmers marched through the streets of the Indian capital Thursday disrupting traffic and paralysing key roads as they demanded higher prices for their crops. The protests affected India's Parliament which was adjou...

Indian billionaires almost double on market rebound, Forbes says
New Delhi - India's billionaires' club almost doubled from 27 in 2008 to 52 in 2009 largely due to a rebounding stock market and economic growth of 6 per cent, Forbes Asia said. Mukesh Ambani, chief of Reliance Industries Limited, remained India's we...

Legislators, farmers protest for higher sugarcane prices in India
New Delhi - Opposition legislators forced an adjournment of Parliament as thousands of farmers gathered in the Indian capital Thursday demanding higher prices for sugarcane crops than those fixed by the government. Farmers from the northern state of ...

India, Canada aim at free trade, to seal nuclear pact soon
New Delhi - India and Canada on Tuesday signed an agreement to facilitate cooperation in energy security and another accord aimed at reaching a bilateral free trade agreement. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Canadian counterpart Stephen ...

Asian Development Bank to fund infrastructure projects in India
Manila - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday it would loan 700 million dollars to India for infrastructure projects to be developed by public-private partnerships. The loan would be released in three tranches over five years to state-owned ...

Air India posts 1.2-billion-dollar loss
New Delhi - India's national carrier Air India reported a net loss of 55.5 billion rupees (1.2 billion dollars) for the financial year which ended March, news reports said Thursday. The state-run airline, which announced the results in the southern c...

Have your Say
Name
Email
Subject
Your Comment

Enter Verification code
 
  

 

 

More India (Business) News click here
Follow The Earth Times
Subscribe to RSS Follow Earth Times on TwitterNews by email
Share/Save/Bookmark

 
 



 
Subscribe to free Earthtimes
News Alerts by Email Click here
For RSS Feeds Click here
or Create your own RSS

Add to Google Toolbar
Breaking News
Press Releases

 


The Earth Times
News Category

© 2009 www.earthtimes.org, The Earth Times, All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy
Earth Times accept no responsibility or liability either directly or indirectly for views or opinions expressed in articles or comments.