Gold loses lustre post GST rollout
Premium on gold has disappeared since the beginning of this month even as banks and nominated agencies are importing the precious metal in limited quantities, indicating that jewellers have unsold gold with them and demand has slowed since the GST regime was rolled out on July 1. In the last week of June, dealers were charging a premium of up to $ 10 an ounce over official domestic prices, the highest since the middle of November 2016. There are three reasons for the disappearance of premium on gold, said industry executives. First, rural demand has fallen to less than half as kharif sowing has picked up across India with the onset of monsoon. Second, in urban India there are few buyers of jewellery now as the wedding season is yet to arrive. Investment demand for gold in urban India i...