The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Surging gold price keeps buyers away and sales down

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Friday, Sep 19, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Surging gold price keeps buyers away and sales down

K. Lakshmi

This sharp increase is happening nearly after 25 years

— File photo

Slipping out of hand: Purchasing of gold jewels is becoming a dream for many with the prices soaring.

CHENNAI: Many jewellery stores in the city witnessed a dip in sales of gold ornaments, with its price surging by Rs.94 per gram.

One gram of 22 carat gold was priced at Rs.1,177 on Thursday, as against Rs.1,083 on Wednesday.

Several jewellery store owners in the city said that the sales were considerably hit by the increase in the price of gold in a day.

The price of silver also went up to Rs.21.40 per gm on Thursday, against Wednesday’s price of Rs.19.30.

Chairman of Gold Club of Chennai N. Anantha Padmanabhan said that the gold price hike has led to dip in sales by 10-15 per cent.

The sales were already less as several people refrained from buying gold on grounds of inauspiciousness of the Tamil month to purchase jewellery, he said.

Gold price touched an all time high of Rs.1,267 per gm two months ago. But, it was due to a steady increase in the price unlike the sudden jump in price on Thursday, he added.

World Gold Council vice president K.Shivram said that the cost of gold witnessed such a hike in a single day after nearly 25 years.

With the tumult in global stock markets, many major investors across the globe have begun to shift their investments to gold as commodity.

This has led to the hike in its cost.

Jewellers in the city said that further increase or decrease in price could not be predicted as the stock market is volatile. It would take a couple of days for the situation to get stable, they said.

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