Gold: Some reflections on the Indian gold market after speaking to the gold trade in and around the IIGC at Cochin. 1/n
Although the shops seemed busy to me, they were described as quiet by managers and WGC colleagues. That fits with what I’ve always understood, in that this time of thyear year rarely sees strong demand. Should start to pick up at 15 Aug, I’m told. 2/n
Gold: Modern, organised jewellery retailers, part of regional or (inter)national chains, still sell mostly traditional jewellery, but do have more modern lines too. 3/n
Gold: The modern, organised jewellery shops look great, well laid out and are gaining market share from smaller more traditional shops. 4/n
Gold: Everyone reported that demand was shocked be demobilisation, compulsory receipts, etc, but less by GST. This was probably due to Kerala’s higher VAT rate of 5%, removed when GST came in. 5/n
Gold: The modern jewellers noted that demand was recovering and that they were optimistic about the rest of the year. Not the case for the traditional jewellery retails. 6/n
Gold: Younger generations of Indians are decidedly more independent than their parents’ generation. But crucially, they still buy #gold jewellery, but to their own tastes. And when they proceed with their careers, they upgrade what they bought when younger. 7/n
Gold: #Platinum jewellery was seen, very different in style, but present in smalll displays in the organised stores. Growing well from a low base and much, much smaller than #gold. But rare good news for platinum. 8/n
Gold: Finally, everyone was incredibly friendly and hospitable, partly inherent, part my due to the high regard they all have got @SomPR_WGC and the @GOLDCOUNCIL team here in India. Thank you to them and all who have their time. 9/9
Apologies for the typos, in the back of a bumpy Mumbai cab 😀
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Gold: The COTR for #gold was released Friday, as usual, but I was away from the office yesterday and didn't get a chance to update spreadsheets: I need not have worried as its almost unchanged.
Managed Money remains net short gold, reduced by 0.75moz to 7.1 moz
1/4
Gold: Gross #gold longs were down 0.16moz to 10.4moz, continuing to bounce roughly around the base level seen over the past six or seven years
2/4
Gold: While Gross #gold shorts fell by 0.91moz to 17.5 million ounces, just shy of the highs seen since this data was available (2006).
Gold: Tomorrow marks the 10-year anniversary of the failure of Lehman Brothers and, consequently, economists, market commentators and journalists have been rolling out their thoughts on both the financial crisis and the subsequent decade.
1/14
Gold: How did #gold fare through the crisis? This chart, from July 2008 to July 2009, shows no sign of gold moving rapidly higher? In fact, gold fell in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the dollar strengthened and gold was used as a source of liquidity (and sold.)
2/14
Gold: Although in the first half of 2009 #gold was comfortably above the level it was when Lehman failed…
CFTC data, released Friday for positions as of Tuesday 4 September, show that Comex Managed Money remains short #gold.
1/6
Gold: There was little change to the already-elevated gross Managed Money short #gold position, which increased by only 100Koz; gross longs fell by 900koz to 10.5 million ounces, driving the net short position 1moz higher to 7.9Moz
2/6
Gold: There has been little change in price or Comex #gold open interest since last Tuesday, indicating little change in positions since then and no obvious technical trigger for a further move.
Gold: Its likely to be quiet today, with the US markets closed for the Labor Day public holiday. But the CFTC released its Commitment of Traders Report on Friday, as usual. To summarise, speculators were still (just) net short #gold as of 28 August. 1/6
Gold: The Managed Money category also remains net short #gold, although as in the case of the legacy report net speculative position, the net Managed Money short decreased slightly last week. 2/6
Gold: There was not much change to the Managed Money gross long #gold positions, which were steady around 11.4 million ounces. 3/6
Gold: Mukesh Kumar, manager of research for @GOLDCOUNCIL in India, has spent the past few days talking to contacts across the Indian #gold market. The first thing I would observe is that the NCDEX polled premium is now positive (data to 20 August) 1/6
Gold: Mukesh notes that there will be an impact from the recent devastating Kerala floods and that the Onam festival will see less #gold demand than normal. But almost all the contacts believe the impact of the flooding will be temporary and should be limited to Q3-18. 2/6
Gold: For country as a while, almost all elements of the trade (fabricators, retails, dealers, banks and industry associations) are positive about #gold demand in H2-18. 3/6