Buyers hold purses tight as gold rates swing wild

HYDERABAD: Heightened volatility in gold prices, which have been witnessing wild intra-day swings and last week scaled all-time high levels of 63,000 per 10gm for 24K (999 purity, including taxes), has spooked several buyers and could turn out to be a dampner for the auspicious Akshaya Tritiya that falls on April 22 this year, fear jewellers.
"People have gone into the wait-and-watch mode as gold has hit all-time highs.The market is down by nearly 50% as compared to last year's Akshaya Tritiya. Even as a retailer I feel prices are too high to purchase," said Praveen Kumar, secretary, Twin Cities Jewellers Association.

"Gold prices are up 20% over last year, impacting buyer sentiment. We are very pessimistic about this year's Akshaya Tritiya as the build-up is missing. Usually, we start seeing bookings from retailers a month ahead and 10 days before the festive day they do the entire procurement. Sales are down by 30-40% as compared to last year," lamented Avinash Gupta of jewellery wholesaler Mamraj Musaddilal.
However, Ajoy Chawla, CEO, Jewellery division, Titan Company Ltd, are optimistic despite the jump in prices between Akshaya Tritiya last year and this year. "In just the last 3-4 months prices are up over 10%, making many customers fence sitters but whenever there is a festival or occasion people come out to buy. We are already seeing a pickup in bookings over the past 4-5 days."
Chawla's confidence stems from the fact that apart from discounts on making charges, offers such as gold rate protection combined with a dialled up exchange programme will coax buyers into showrooms. "We have set focus on lightweight jewellery across all segments to solve the cost of owne-rship problem for customers," he added. Darshan Gupta, partner, Mangatrai Jewellers, too is optimistic provided there is a correction to below the 60,000 per 10gm mark. "If prices stabilise I'm optimistic buyers will come in to buy as it is an auspicious occasion. Recently, when prices corrected many buyers took the opportunity to make bookings."
However, Amit Pratihari, VP, De Beers Forevermark, feels high gold prices augur well for diamond jewellery and will push them to shift to diamond jewellery as prices between the two have narrowed considerably. "We expect a 20-25% growth in sales this year as compared to last year's Akshaya Tritiya," he said.