Chinese demand pushes gold to record highs: China extended its lead over India as the world’s biggest buyer of gold bars, coins, and jewelry — Chinese demand for gold jewelry rose 10% over the past year, while Indian demand fell 6%. Demand from China pushed the precious metal to a record-breaking USD 2.4k an ounce this year, Bloomberg reports.

China’s demand for gold stands to grow even further as a weakening local currency and ongoing property crisis pushes investors towards the metal, Hong Kong-based consultant Precious Metals Insights Managing Director Philip Klapwijk told Bloomberg. “The weight of money available under these circumstances for an asset like gold — and actually for new buyers to come in — is pretty considerable … There isn’t much alternative in China. With exchange controls and capital controls, you can’t just look at other markets to put your money into,” he added.

THE MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are rebounding from Friday’s sell-off, with the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng leading the gainers, up nearly 2.3% in early trading. That’s raising hope that positive sentiment (or perhaps a bit of wishful thinking?) could see the Nasdaq (down 5.5% last week) and S&P (down >3% last week) snap their six-day losing streaks.

In context: The two big US benchmarks were dragged down last week by a tech selloff.

What to watch for this week: 1Q 2024 results announcements from Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft.

Right now: US and European equities futures were up slightly in overnight trading.

ADX

9,126

-0.6% (YTD: -4.7%)

DFM

4,175

-0.8% (YTD: +2.8%)

Nasdaq Dubai UAE20

3,620

-1.4% (YTD: -5.8%)

USD : AED CBUAE

Buy 3.67

Sell 3.67

EIBOR

5.0% o/n

5.4% 1 yr

TASI

12,518

+0.1% (YTD: +4.6%)

EGX30

28,623

+1.0% (YTD: +15.0%)

S&P 500

4,967

-0.9% (YTD: +4.1%)

FTSE 100

7,896

+0.2% (YTD: +3.6%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,918

-0.4% (YTD: +8.8%)

Brent crude

USD 87.00

-0.3%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 1.75

-0.1%

Gold

USD 2,401.50

-0.5%

BTC

USD 64,628.50

-0.1% (YTD: +53.3%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM fell 0.8% yesterday on turnover of AED 310.6 mn. The index is up 2.8% YTD.

In the green: Al Salam Sudan (+5.7%), du (Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company) (+2.0%) and Ekttitab Holding Company (+1.7%).

In the red: Dubai Islamic Ins. and Reins. (-8.2%), Dubai Refreshment Company (-7.7%) and Watania International Holding (-3.1%).

Over on the ADX, the index closed down 0.6% on turnover of AED 1.2 bn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai fell 1.4%.

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

Invictus Investment, Ghitha’s trading arm, is paying out AED 45 mn in dividends for 2023, equivalent to 16% of the company’s capital, according to an ADX disclosure (pdf).

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