Latest news with #jewellers
Reuters
18-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
ASIA GOLD Discounts widen in India as elevated prices dull activity
July 18 (Reuters) - Gold demand in India remained subdued this week, as near record-high prices kept buyers at bay and prompted dealers to widen discounts to lure them, while elevated rates curtailed activity across other major Asian hubs as well. Indian dealers were offering a discount up to $10 an ounce over official domestic prices - inclusive of 6% import and 3% sales levies - up from the last week's discount of up to $8. "Jewellery stores all over the country are seeing fewer customers. People aren't ready to buy just yet... They're holding off, hoping prices will come down," said a Kolkata-based jeweller. Domestic gold prices were trading around 97,500 rupees per 10 grams on Friday after hitting an all-time peak of 101,078 rupees last month. Gold discounts could have risen sharply due to weak demand, but supplies are limited because of a sharp fall in imports, said a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a private bank. India's gold imports in June fell 40% from a year ago to 21 tons, their lowest level in more than two years, amid sluggish demand. In China, the world's top gold consumer, dealers quoted discounts of $5 per ounce to $10 premium on spot rates , down from the premiums of $10-$25 charged last week. "In China, I don't see too much physical buying interest at this moment due to the summer holiday. Maybe from October, you can expect the demand to pick up," said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals. In Hong Kong, gold was sold at $1-$2 premiums, while dealers in Singapore sold gold at par with the global benchmark to a premium of up to $2.20. In Japan, bullion traded between a $0.50 discount and a $1 premium.
Khaleej Times
07-07-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Dubai gold shopping guide: 15 tips for buying jewellery, diamonds, and gems
Dubai has long earned its reputation as a global hub for gold jewellery. Known as the "City of Gold," it attracts not only residents but also tourists from around the world who come to purchase exquisite ornaments for weddings, as gifts, or for their collections. Despite high global gold prices, jewellers in Dubai say that shoppers can still make smart, cost-effective purchases by following a few strategic tips. These guidelines not only help buyers save money but also ensure they invest in certified diamonds and genuine gold pieces. Recommended For You According to recent data, gold jewellery demand in the UAE declined by 7.9 tonnes in the first quarter of 2025 — an 18 per cent year-on-year drop —largely driven by record-high gold prices amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and trade war concerns. Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. As of Sunday, 24K gold was trading at Dh402.25 per gram, while 22K gold stood at Dh372.25 per gram. To help consumers navigate this high-price environment, Dubai jewellers have shared 15 practical tips that could lead to significant savings: Time your purchase – Shop during major sale events like Dubai Shopping Festival, Dubai Summer Surprises, Eid, or Valentine's Day Compare prices across stores – Visit multiple jewellers to compare prices, craftsmanship, and collections. Request a price breakdown – Always ask for the gold rate, making charges, and VAT to be quoted separately. Check daily gold rates – Gold prices fluctuate; ensure you know the rate on the day of purchase. Negotiate making charges – Making charges can vary widely between retailers, so don't hesitate to negotiate. Look for loyalty programmes – Some jewellers offer points or rewards for repeat customers. Explore discounts and cashback offers – Malls and banks often partner with stores to offer exclusive deals. Use credit card offers – Many credit cards offer instant discounts or 0% instalment plans. Check certifications and policies – Ensure all jewellery comes with proper certification and clear return policies. Verify diamond certification – Diamonds should come with IGI or GIA certificates. Ask about after-sales services – Look for buyback guarantees, exchange options, and lifetime service warranties. Inquire about VAT refunds – Tourists may be eligible for VAT refunds on purchases. Discounts on making charges – Many stores offer promotions on the making charge portion of the price. Look for diamond discounts – Some stores offer flat percentage discounts on diamond jewellery. Take advantage of bundle offers – Consider sets or combos that come with free gifts. By following these tips, shoppers can make informed decisions, get the best value, and enjoy a seamless jewellery-buying experience in Dubai.
Khaleej Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Gold soars on safe-haven demand amid trade uncertainty, weak dollar
Gold prices surged this week as heightened investor anxiety over stalled US trade negotiations, a weakening dollar, and expectations of lower interest rates drove strong safe-haven demand. Spot gold rose by 0.8 per cent to $3,328.71 an ounce on Tuesday, while gold futures for August delivery climbed 1 per cent to $3,339.70. This follows a 1.5 per cent gain on Monday, nearly offsetting losses from the previous week, which had been triggered by a short-lived ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The rally in gold prices is being driven by several macroeconomic factors, most notably concerns over the upcoming July 9 deadline set by President Donald Trump for concluding trade deals with several key nations. Investors are bracing for the possibility of steep reciprocal tariffs — up to 50 per cent — if agreements are not secured with countries including Japan. In the UAE, rising global prices are already being reflected in local bullion rates. As of Tuesday, 24-carat gold was priced at Dh400.25 per gram, while 22-carat stood at Dh370.75, 21-carat at Dh355.50, and 18-carat at Dh304.75. The increase has arrived at a time when footfall at Dubai's Gold Souk and other jewellery outlets had just begun recovering, aided by the Summer Surprises 2025 shopping festival. However, jewellers warn that consumer enthusiasm may taper off if prices continue to hold above Dh370 per gram — a level historically associated with reduced demand among price-sensitive shoppers. 'Many customers had locked in prices around Dh365.75, and their strategy seems to be paying off,' said a leading Dubai-based retailer. 'We're seeing an uptick in forward bookings, but if prices remain elevated, retail volumes may cool.' To stimulate buying, retailers are leaning on promotional campaigns. The Dubai Summer Surprises raffle has revised its threshold down to Dh1,000 from Dh1,500 for eligibility, in a bid to cushion the impact of rising prices. Bullion market experts said with the global macroeconomic environment in flux, gold is once again positioning itself as a safe-haven refuge — a role it has played for centuries — particularly as inflation fears, trade turbulence, and fiscal uncertainty keep investors on edge. Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial, said the rebound reflects investors' flight to safety amid rising macroeconomic uncertainty. 'Despite recent profit-taking, gold has rebounded strongly after bouncing off a key long-term bullish trendline,' he said. 'The weakening US dollar, coupled with renewed fears about the government's fiscal deficit and legislative wrangling over a massive tax and spending bill, has only added to gold's appeal.' Valecha added that further support could come from anticipated interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. 'If the Fed signals dovishness in upcoming meetings, gold is likely to attract even more investor attention,' he said. Market focus now turns to key economic indicators this week, including Thursday's US non-farm payrolls report and purchasing managers' index (PMI) data from S&P Global and the Institute for Supply Management. These releases could offer clearer direction on the Fed's policy stance, influencing both Treasury yields and gold's trajectory. From a technical standpoint, analysts say gold has breached a descending channel resistance on the 4-hour chart, with upward momentum possibly pushing prices toward $3,350 — the upper boundary of the Bollinger Band and the 100-day simple moving average. A breakout beyond this level could set the stage for a test of the $3,377 mark, a previous support level from mid-May. On the downside, $3,300 and $3,275 remain key support levels. Globally, gold's appeal is further underpinned by investor expectations of continued dollar weakness. The US Dollar Index remained near three-year lows during Asian trading hours, making dollar-denominated gold more attractive to holders of other currencies. Lower US Treasury yields are also playing a role, reducing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. Despite the absence of new geopolitical flare-ups, gold's upward momentum has been steady, supported by broader concerns over global fiscal health and trade volatility. Analysts at Commerzbank and HSBC believe gold will remain within a range of $3,100 to $3,500 through the third quarter, with fiscal policies, currency movements, and global growth indicators determining its next move. In parallel, silver futures rose 0.4 per cent to $36.00 an ounce, while platinum futures slipped 0.4 per cent to $1,360.45. Industrial metals also saw mixed movement — copper futures on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.2 per cent to $9,839.95 a ton, and US copper futures jumped 1.2 per cent to $5.1145 a pound, buoyed by stronger-than-expected growth in China's Caixin manufacturing PMI for June. Precious metals analysts at Metals Focus note that strong central bank buying and persistent inflation concerns could also lend longer-term support to gold. 'Central banks are not only diversifying away from the US dollar but also hedging against systemic risks. This sustained demand creates a floor for prices even in times of calm,' a recent report from the consultancy noted.
CTV News
03-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Police seeking suspect in Tanger Outlets jewelry store theft
Ottawa police are seeking a suspect involved in a jewelry store theft at Tanger Outlets mall. (Ottawa Police Service/Provided) The Ottawa Police Service is seeking public assistance in identifying a suspect involved in a jewelry store theft at Tanger Outlets last month. Police say the suspect entered a store on May 9 at approximately 1:28 p.m., broke a display case and stole several pieces of jewelry before fleeing the scene on foot through the parking lot. The suspect is described as a man, approximately 40-years-old, with a medium build and about 5 feet 8 inches tall. He wore dark grey or black pants, a black hoodie, a red baseball cap with a white 'T' on the front and Nike sneakers with a black swoosh. Anyone with information about this individual or the incident is asked to contact the Robbery Unit at 613-236-1222, extension 5116, or via email at robbery@ Police are also investigating several other thefts and robberies targeting local jewellers in recent months. A group of four or five masked men rammed a stolen pickup truck into a Bank Street jewelry store before driving off in a getaway SUV last week. Other incidents have been reported at jewellers at Place d'Orléans Shopping Centre and Bayshore Shopping Mall.
RNZ News
02-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
The disruptor that's sent diamond prices tumbling
Lab-grown diamonds, indistinguishable from mined diamonds, are flooding onto the market, at a tenth of the price of those that came out of the earth. Photo: Alexia Russell Diamonds are having a pearls moment. Once upon a time pearls were the world's most valuable jewellery item - their extreme rarity making them the way to display wealth to the world. But in the early 1900s Japanese pearl famers worked out how to culture them and for the first time, a string of round pearls became affordable and obtainable. Now, lab-grown diamonds, indistinguishable from mined diamonds, are flooding onto the market at a tenth of the price of those that came out of the earth. But before you rush out to buy a ring that will give you more bang for your buck, think again - the price of yellow gold has risen so much that if you want your sparkler set in a gold band, it could well have cancelled out your savings. "We've had big movements in diamond prices, in both mined and lab diamonds, over the past five years," says Newsroom senior business reporter Alice Peacock. "A lot of jewellers, a lot of retailers have been getting into the lab space, and manufacturing of lab diamonds has increased a lot over the last decade. They've been around for a few decades but have really taken off in popularity over the last 10 years. "There's a bit of confused terminology around what lab diamonds are, but they are real diamonds. The chemical and the physical makeup of them is exactly the same. Essentially you can't tell the difference. I think people have different ideas about the ethics of them, but again that's a bit of a murky area." The split between customers who want a lab or a mined diamond varies greatly between outlets, but Peacock says Michael Hill Jeweller told her it's still lower than 50 percent. In its Canadian and Australian stores however, the demand is higher. In the US demand is soaring. Zoë and Morgan is a bespoke jeweller in Auckland. If you look at the company's website you will see side by side two rings, a two-carat lab diamond for $6,000, and a mined diamond of 1.01 carats for $16,700. Zoë Williams is the co-owner of Zoë and Morgan, a bespoke jeweller in Auckland Photo: Alexia Russell Zoë Williams is the co-owner and says at the moment more than half of her customers are opting for a lab-grown diamond - but it's a really changeable situation. She tells The Detail that many customers come in who don't know what lab diamonds are, or who think they're fake. "It's been fun just to be able to chat about the different processes ... obviously the way diamonds have been extracted through history is really horrible." However, the increasing popularity of lab diamonds has forced the "natural" diamond industry to improve its game, with more ethical operations and giving back to the communities they're taken from. Williams explains how jewellers can trace the origins of mined stones using the code each one comes with. "In modern times, all of those mining processes have had to become much more ethically-minded to come up to speed with how we should be treating our humans in the world. "And that's a fantastic thing. That's what I personally quite like about the lab diamonds coming onto the market, is it's .... caused the other side of the industry to really tidy up their act and to really become a lot more responsible. And within all of these things there's pros and cons ... but I do feel like we've made some great advances in the last few years." But lab-grown diamonds aren't spotless when it comes to sustainability - it takes an immense amount of energy to make them and there are nasty chemicals involved. Williams says the diamond market is also no longer just about engagement rings, but people are buying them to mark special moments in their lives - from the 21-year-old who's celebrating getting a job, to someone who's not waiting for someone to give them a diamond, to those who've made it to 40 and are happy with where they are in life. They might not be quite the investment they used to be sold as, but Williams questions if that really matters. "Sometimes I like the idea that it doesn't stand up financially, but it holds an incredible story and it holds a lot of personal value, and I think that's really important as well." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
