Slump in gold prices draws shoppers across Asia

Retailers are snapping up more gold to cater to buyers who had been holding off their purchases for the past year.

Gold price’s slump to near a nine-month low is drawing jewelry shoppers in Asia to hunt for bargains. After a year of demand being in the doldrums, retailers are buying more of the precious metal to cater to people like Seema B, a 35-year-old housewife who ventured to Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar to get new bangles after months of putting it off. “The prices have come down a bit and the general worries about the virus have also eased,” she said. Seema joins others in India and Malaysia who are stocking up for weddings and investment. Retail investors in South Korea are amassing bullion while Chinese demand drove sales higher over the Lunar New Year. The demand for physical gold may stem the slide in prices that have been pummeled by rising bond yields and outflows from bullion-backed exchange-traded funds.