"Investor demand has compensated the decline in the jewellery consumption. The rising gold prices, which has boosted the investors appetite, may result in close to 1,000 tonne imports of theyellow metal," Rajan Venkatesh, Managing Director, India bullion, SocotiaMocatta, a part of the Bank of Nova Scotia, told reporters on the sidelines of FICCI 'Gems and Jewellery Conference' here.
The current US and the Euro zone crisis, he said, will keep the gold prices bullish and they are likely to reach $2,000 an ounce in another 3-4 months. "People are losing faith in cash as load of the US currency can be printed," he said.The gold prices here today ruled at Rs 28,500 per 10 grams, while it was $1,695.90 an ounce in the global markets.On silver, Venkatesh said, the imports will be slightly lower than last year's 3,030 tonnes due to the rise in prices."Silver business is not that significant (by volume)... a couple of months ago it was very good when prices had tapered off," he said. he demand will improve if the silver prices comes down to Rs 40,000-45,000 a kg, he said.Silver prices today stood at Rs 56,250 per kg here and in the global markets it was at $31.88 an ounce.