India May Move Gold Prices Higher

Gold premiums in top consumer India could jump to as much as $5 an ounce over world prices next week, from being almost at par, after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley surprised jewellers by maintaining import duty at a record level in Saturday’s budget.

The wedding season that extends to May typically raises gold demand, but many had delayed purchases expecting a cut in the 10 percent tax. Buying had been muted in the past few weeks in the otherwise buzzing jewellery centres, Zaveri Baazar in Mumbai and Karol Bagh in New Delhi.

“Gold prices were declining on expectations of a duty cut but now prices would rise and premiums would shoot to $3 to $4 an ounce,” said Rahul Gupta, director at P.P. Jewellers in New Delhi.  Keyur Shah, head of precious metals at retailer Muthoot Pappachan, reckons jewellers and manufacturers will replenish their inventory from Monday, boosting premiums to $5 an ounce.

Reuters

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.