Vijayawada: Even when it is marriage season now, gold sales are not up to the mark in Vijayawada.
Generally, in summer, during marriage season, gold sales will be good. However, this year, the rate of gold has increased. This was due to international developments such as Syria crisis, strengthening of dollar against rupee, etc.
The investments in share market have been diverted to bullion market leading to a rise in price of gold.
As per the reports of gold traders in Vijayawada, the sales this season is less than 7 per cent when compared to the sales of the same time in 2017.
K. Hari, president of Gold Traders Association, Vijayawada, opined that this is due to the rise in price and the general market recession.
He told Deccan Chronicle that for the past one-and-a-half month, which was a good season, there was no growth in sales as expected. “Maybe this is due to increased price owing to international developments and also the general recession continuing in the market,” he said.
Compared to 2017, overall sales have come down. However, when we divide the general traders and the big bulls such as MBS, Anjaneya, Chandana Grand, etc. the picture will be different. “These big showrooms have recorded good number of sales. The trend of investing in gold at the time of functions has increased these days but it is only among some rich sections of the society. These sections have been purchasing the gold from big shops mostly,” Mr Hari said.
M.Chandra Sekhar, who recently conducted his daughter’s marriage, told Deccan Chronicle: “I purchased readymade ornaments from different showrooms. There is no time for me to suggest a design for the ornament. Instead, selecting readymade ornaments is easy.”
K. Balaram, a financial expert, analysed this in a different way. He told DC last year, by this time, it was the post demonetisation period.
“In that period, the unaccounted money was invested in gold. Those having black money tried to convert it into gold reserves. That is why in 2017, more sales were registered than this year,” he said.
