If you travel to India, and you are a woman, a very interesting excursion would be to visit the old sellers of gold. Indian women are given gold when they marry, and they seek to add to their collection during the married lives.
It is a way to protect their wealth and pass it on to their children. What is amazing is that they typically buy pure gold. And the Financial Times, just wrote of how the housewives of India are a key indicator for gold demand.
I love traveling for reasons like this. You see another country. Experience another culture and learn unique aspects such as this.
India is the world's largest consumer of the precious metal and the apparent sell-signal from its value-savvy householders may prove unsettling for global investors hoping that gold will continue to be a safe haven in volatile markets.
"Demand for gold is virtually zero," said Suresh Hundia, president of the Bombay Bullion Association. "People are taking profits and selling their gold back to jewellers for 2.5-3 per cent less than international market prices."
As the gold price has soared to record highs, imports have come to a near standstill, tumbling 70 per cent to 80 per cent in the past month, according to Mr Hundia. Economists estimate that gold imports in the last quarter of 2007 could have been 20 per cent lower than in the same period.
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