Record prices keep demand for li jewellery pieces strong

Some UAE residents are swapping their old gold jewellery with the new amidst record high prices, say jewellers in Dubai.

- Waheed Abbas

Though bigticket purchases are put on hold by Dubai jewellery shoppers, small ornaments continue to lead the sales in Dubai.

The yellow metal hit an all-time high of $2,900 per ounce on Monday evening, up over 1.35 per cent.

In Dubai, 24K and 22K jumped to Dh349.5 and Dh325.0 per gram, respectively.

Tawhid Abdulla, chairman of Dubai Jewellery Group, said individuals and short-term investors liquidate some of their gold holdings during price surges to realise profits. However, serious investors hold on to their savings as they have greater confidence in gold, lately.

"Consumers wait for the price to stabilise before making big purchase decisions. However, smaller purchases, particularly tourist shopping will not be affected much by price increase," said Tawhid.