Dubai gold price: Shoppers who pre-booked for 'Akshaya Trithiya' better off after today's spike

Dubai: Anyone who pre-booked early yesterday (April 28) will be better off after the Dubai Gold Rate shot up to Dh371.25 a gram from Dh366 for a gram of 22K. (The 24K is again back to Dh400 level.)

The pre-booking is timed for tomorrow’s ‘Akshaya Trithiya’, the Indian festival where gold buying is a key ritual. The booking in advance helps the shoppers lock in prices based on yesterday’s lower rate.

“We had a lot of Indian expats in the UAE and tourists who decided the Dh366 rate was right for their April 30 ‘Akshaya Trithiya’ buys,” said a jewellery retailer in Dubai. “There were also calls coming from our regular shoppers who couldn’t visit the shops but asked us to book and sending in a down payment.”

But UAE jewellers have ramped up on their offers for any April 30 purchases, with slashing making charges the most favoured option with shoppers. The making charge cuts now extend to gold coins too with more investors choosing gold bars and coins as investments rather than just stick to jewellery.

Another plus for jewellery retailers is the ongoing Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, and the kind of visitor traffic it generates. "Even if 10%-20% of the visitors at ATM come for gold buying at local stores, that's massive," said a jeweller. "And because there is the added pull of Akshaya Trithiya, we are quite sure many of the ATM visitors will."

Even then, today's Dubai gold rate spike is a bit of a surprise, because the trends had been for bullion prices to inch lower.

Currently, in the global metals markets, gold is at $3,330 an ounce, against the $3,280 early yesterday. (Just for perspective, it had reached $3,500 for a brief period early last week.)

What shoppers should do

As expected, the offers are starting to pile up and for gold buyers to choose from. "If the offers takes out another Dh5 a gram off the price, then shoppers are still getting quite a good bargain," said a jeweller.