The rate of one gram of gold might have dropped to a low of Rs.2,499 when the markets opened on Monday morning in the country, but jewellery traders in the city said that it did not make much of a difference to their business.
“Customers have now adopted this policy of ‘wait and watch.’ When prices dipped on Monday, we did not have more business than usual since many of the customers thought that the rates might go down further and refrained from buying jewellery,” said K.V.K.R. Prabhakaran, who runs Jeyaprabha Jewellers.
After the dip in prices, the markets opened on Tuesday here with gold priced at Rs.2,520 per gram. The price was at Rs.2,527 per gram when the markets closed.
Owners of larger jewellery showrooms in the city said that while many customers chose to wait and watch and then decide on their gold purchase, the prices did not make much of a difference to their small yet significant elite customer base.
“For the last three to four years, it has become very tough for us to anticipate the price of gold. Despite the fluctuations, solid, antique jewellery is still in demand and people consider it a good investment,” said S. Shiva Shankar, who owns Sri Krishna Nagai Maaligai.
The oncoming festival season is unpredictable for bullion traders in the city. “Traders who run smaller showrooms like ours expect the gold prices to fluctuate between Rs.2,500 and Rs.2,650 through the season,” Mr. Prabhakaran said.
Other traders, however, believed that prices could rise during the season as a majority of the middle class people, who had set budgets for purchasing gold, would flock to the shops.
“Business for gold jewellers has been just about satisfactory in the last one month. In the next ten days, we are expecting the business to pick up in jewellery shops across the city,” said J. Sathish Kumar, assistant secretary of the Madurai Jewellers and Bullion Merchants’ Association.
Jewellers are also aware that this is the age of the ‘informed customer.’
“With smart phones and easy access to information, customers are well informed about the market trends. They ask us a lot of questions about the price and value these days,” Mr. Shiva Shankar noted.
Many established and small jewellery showrooms maintain database of customers and send them daily updates.
