Dubai gold sales rose 32 percent in value in April from the same month a year earlier as prices stabilised, a top Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group official said on Saturday, without giving a figure for the change in volume.
"April was a very positive month. Gold sales were up 32 percent compared with the same period last year as more customers upped their purchases after prices stabilised," Tawhid Abdullah, managing director of the Gold and Jewellery Group in the Gulf Arab emirate, told Reuters.
First-quarter demand in the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven emirates including trade hub Dubai and oil-rich Abu Dhabi, rose 5.7 percent to 29.7 tonnes while sales jumped 23.9 percent to $741 million, the World Gold Council has said in a report. Abu Dhabi gold sales rose about 10 percent in volume in April from the same month the year before, while sales value jumped 17 percent during the same period.
Abdullah said second-quarter sales could see an increase of about 30 percent in value. Some local traders have said gold sales in the UAE could fall by about 10 percent in volume for the second consecutive year in 2007 due to price volatility. But Abdullah said the market in Dubai had not been affected by the price movement and there was still an appetite for the precious metal.
Spot gold bullion peaked at $730 an ounce in May 2006, its highest level since a record peak above $800 in 1980. Dubai is one of the world's top gold consuming regions and a major hub of the physical gold trade in the Middle East and Asia.
The value of gold sales in the Gulf Arab region is expected to grow by 15 to 20 percent a year as economies expand and tourism grows, the chairman of the Gold and Jewellery Group has said. The region's economies grew about 7 percent in 2006, driven by high oil prices, increasing the appetite for jewellery.
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