Falling gold prices revive physical demand in key markets
LONDON/MUMBAI - A drop in gold prices this month has drawn in buyers of the metal who had been waiting for the market's lightning rally this year to subside, industry players and analysts said.
Spot gold prices hit a record $2 790.15 per troy ounce on October 31, but are down some 4% so far in November in response to a Republican Party clean sweep in the US election.
"Physical demand has picked up quite a bit since October and especially after the sharp November price drop as there has been a change in the market sentiment," Robin Kolvenbach, co-CEO of Swiss-based refinery Argor-Heraeus, told Reuters.
Forecasts by some analysts that gold could hit $3 000 supported an idea among parts of the market that prices, even above $2 700, were no longer super high.
"Demand has increased quite a bit for the minted products, which are predominantly for private investors, but we also have seen an increase in production requests for physical gold from institutional investors," Kolvenbach added.
Consumers in price sensitive regions such as India had been finding it difficult to cope with gold's rally in recent months until prices began to retreat.
The current pick up in demand in India, the world's second largest consumer after China and a major importer, will likely continue in December if prices remain around the current $2 620 level, said a Mumbai-based bullion division head of a private gold importing bank.
"Consumers have seen gold rise to around $2 790, so they are psychologically comfortable with the current price," he said. "The only requirement is that prices should remain stable. Volatility confuses buyers and forces them to wait for a clear trend."
While demand is less buoyant in China and more mixed in South-East Asia, StoneX analyst Rhona O'Connell said there were a number of strategic investors who had been waiting for a decent correction.
"A fall post-election opened that window for some," she said.
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