Gold Story

Gold prices tumbled both at home and abroad, making a mockery of the status of the yellow metal as a safe haven. According to the World Gold Council, when the financial crisis had started and stock prices fell, investors had scrambled to buy gold. However, now that the crisis has deepened, investors have lost confidence in all assets, including gold. The price of the yellow metal in the international market today fell below the $700-mark to $695.10 a troy ounce — its lowest in the last 13 months. In domestic markets, the price of gold (24-carat) slipped to Rs 11,825 per 10 gram in Calcutta from a peak of Rs 14,565 on October 10. The returns from gold exchange traded funds, another vehicle to invest in gold, also fell over 18 per cent in the last fortnight and 11 per cent in the last one month. Besides, anybody keen to sell jewellery will find few takers among gold retailers. “We’re buying gold jewellery till October 28 (that is Diwali),” said a spokesperson at P.C. Chandra Jewellers’ Bowbazar branch. An official at Anjali Jewellers said it was buying jewellery made only by them. We are not buying jewellery made by other jewellers”. An official of the West Bengal Bullion Merchants & Jewellers Association said the jewellers were sitting on a large inventory.