Gold demand rises for Indian festivities
Gold retail sales in India rose today (August 28th), as the onset of the Raksha Bandhan festival brought more and more people to buy gold wrist bands.
Mumbai-based retailer Ritesh Jain told Reuters of a "good escalation of demand" at jewelers profiting from the early festival season.
Demand for gold-based products on the retail market was, however, accompanied by a fall in Indian demand for wholesale gold. With some banks reported to have quoted rates above 9,000 rupees per ten grams, price concerns discouraged Indian gold investment.
The current gold price in India rose as the rupee fell against the dollar, discouraging wholesale gold bullion investors, despite the promise of further increases in retail sales for the precious metal as the festival season progresses.
Wholesale concerns aside, festivals such as Raksha Bandhan help to make India the largest consumer of gold jewelry in the world, driving many developments in the global gold market.
Indian newspaper the Economic Times in fact claimed that gold exchange now constitutes nearly half of Australian exports to India, reaching AU$4.7 billion ($3.85 billion) this year.
The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange also reported a dependence of its country's gold exports on the Indian market, amounting to 45 per cent of its total gold exports.