Gold prices power to 10-week high in Oman

Muscat: The price of gold in the Sultanate is on the rise ahead of Diwali after having dipped for some time.
The yellow metal is the costliest it has been in two-and-a-half months. Representatives from the jewellery retailer, Malabar Gold, disclosed that the price of 22 karat gold was OMR15.150 as of Tuesday and that of 24 karat gold was OMR15.750.
This development comes in the backdrop of thousands of Indian customers looking to buy gold ahead of Diwali.
Rise in demand for the precious metal may partly be because of the festive season, which is considered an auspicious time to buy gold.
Diwali falls on November 7 this year. The value of gold started dipping around the third week of July from OMR15.05 (22 karat) to as low as OMR14.54 on August 16.
Then, the prices started climbing again. There were slight fluctuations since then, including a spike from the second week of October.
Investors buying bullion, snubbing stocks?
Observers said that the increase in gold prices is down to a multitude of factors, such as investors turning to gold due to uncertainty in the stock market.
“Gold currently looks attractive to investors due to the uncertainties in the stock market, and this trend tends to push the metal’s value higher.
Gold is closely following the stock market.
When stock markets are not stable, there will be an upswing in the buying.
The precious metal has overcome its short-term resistance level of US$1,212 an ounce, as investors have flocked to the bullion, and it looks like the bullish wave will continue over the short term,” C. K. Anchan, Managing Director, World Wide Business House LLC, a business advisory firm, said.
However, jewellers insisted that the increased prices won’t hinder sales as it is too little of an increase in recent weeks.
“The gold price has hardly seen an increase of 100 to 200 baisa in the last few weeks.
Slight variations often happen but the overall price trend these days is still very positive for gold buyers.
The small fluctuations seen in gold prices are quite normal and are because of a large number of reasons.
Despite the small fluctuations, gold is always a wise investment,” Najeeb K, Regional Head of Malabar Gold, said.
Najeeb conceded that the increase in prices may be partly due to the demand ahead of Diwali, but added that Malabar Gold expected an increase in sales during the festive season, regardless.
“The price depends on a lot of factors, but as the Diwali festive season is near, all the jewellery retailers are coming up with offers.
As the festive season is near we are expecting an increase in sales,” he remarked.