Gold demand subdued in Asian markets as protests in India, Hong Kong curb buying

• Financial

Demand of gold had witnessed a withering backdrop throughout this week on major Asian business HubSpots as a wave of violent protest in India over a citizenship bill that granted citizenships to minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who had long been facing persecution over religion, had disrupted purchase of retailers, while a continued pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong added further strains on to gold demand, nonetheless, traders seemed to be biding their times ahead of a New Year holiday in China, the world’s largest market for gold.

Since India’s opposition party, Congress-led coalition had pushed the Indian minorities, in particular the Indian Muslims, at the front side of the protest to make it look like the world’s third-largest economy had lost its entire shape of secularism, political unrests had engulfed some of the states of India, while gold dealers had been facing off a terrible supply glut.

Meanwhile, in a bid to empty up their golden vaults, Indian gold retailers had been offering a rare discount of as much as up to $2.50 an ounce over official prices, which had been roughly 25 per cent up from last week’s discount of $2.00 per ounce.

Meanwhile, as beforementioned a continued pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong had nudged much of the retailers towards mainland China, while Chinese retailers seemed to be optimistic ahead of a New Year sales, nonetheless, retail gold prices had witnessed further downfall this week in Hong Kong where spot gold prices had tumbled between $0.20 to $0.30 per ounce.