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Asia gold-jewellers stock up on price dip
4/6/2005
SINGAPORE/BOMBAY, Apr 5 (Reuters): Jewellers across Asia are building up gold stocks to capitalise on falling prices and seasonal demand among consumers in India and Thailand, dealers said today.
Gold, used for jewellery and for investment, has lost around 5 per cent since hitting a 2005 high of $446.70 an ounce on March 11, due to profit- taking and a firm dollar that normally dents non-US investors' sentiment towards the precious metal.
"People have accepted the current prices," said Rajesh Mehta, chairman of Rajesh Exports Ltd, India's largest jewellery exporter.
Gold demand in India, the world's largest consumer, is rising as April and May tend to be the busiest months for marriages in the Hindu- majority nation of more than 1 billion people.
Gold jewellery forms an important part of Hindu marriages as parents give it to their daughters for financial security.
In Southeast Asia, demand from neighbouring Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand is helping support premiums for gold bars in Singapore, the region's biggest bullion trading centre.
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