By Rajendra Jadhav and Noel John
May 22 (Reuters) – Gold kept trading at a steep discount in India this week, as price volatility dampened demand, while premiums eased in China.
Dealers in India quoted discounts of up to $78 an ounce over official domestic prices this week, inclusive of 15% import and 3% sales levies, down from the prior week’s record discounts of up to $207 an ounce.
“Retail buyers are a bit confused by the recent price swings after the government raised import duty earlier this month. Most of them are just waiting for prices to settle down,” said a Kolkata-based jeweller.
The South Asian country earlier this month raised import tariffs on gold and silver to 15% from 6% as part of efforts to reduce overseas purchases of the metals and ease pressure on foreign exchange reserves from higher oil prices.
Jewellers are reluctant to build stocks as the wedding season draws to a close and uncertainty persists over retail demand, said a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a private bank.
In top consumer China, bullion traded at premiums of $10 to $20 an ounce over the global benchmark price, compared with the previous week’s premiums of $15 to $20.
“Fed rate-hike anxiety, rising bond yields, and dollar strength continue to weigh on gold in China,” said Bernard Sin, regional director of Greater China at MKS PAMP.
A stronger dollar makes greenback-priced bullion expensive for other currency holders, while elevated bond yields increase the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding metal.
“Near‑term, physical demand remains caught between conflict‑driven safe‑haven demand and policy‑driven headwinds,” he said.
Spot gold prices fell to a near two-month low on Wednesday, weighed down by higher Treasury yields and a stronger dollar.
In Hong Kong, gold traded at par to premiums of $2, while in Japan, gold was sold at a discount of $0.25. In Singapore, gold was sold at premiums of $1 to $3.
($1 = 96.09 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Noel John and Pablo Sinha in Bengaluru, and Rajendra Jadav in Mumbai; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
