UAE shoppers 'rush' to exchange old jewellery for shiny gold bars

Dubai: Got some old gold jewellery? Exchange it for gold bars. And then hold them for the long-term.  

UAE residents are making the switch, and there are some visitors/tourists to the country who are also heading for the Dubai Gold Souq to exchange what they have.

They are doing so to get the ‘best’ rate possible on the exchange from jewellery to bars - and because they think that gold prices are set to drop.

The Dubai gold price remains above Dh370 a gram – after briefly dropping to Dh370.25 earlier yesterday, then gaining to Dh373.5 and now back to Dh372.25.

In the last 30 days, global gold prices are lower by just over $40 on an ounce basis. Bullion is trading at $3,339

Some gold retailers have been surprised by the ‘rush’ to exchange.

“Many of these shoppers had just returned from summer holidays and had only one thought on their mind – exchange old jewellery for bars at Dh370 plus,” said a staff at one of the jewellery retailers. “They were not willing to consider taking new jewellery.”

It could be that these UAE shoppers wanted to exchange before gold prices slipped to under Dh370 and even go down to Dh360/Dh350 levels. Many would have heard commentary from market analysts saying gold prices could cool down if the Russia-Ukraine crisis gets resolved.

“There’s a whole new UAE investor base who are switching to gold bars – what we are seeing in the last few days is possibly the start of a new rush,” said another jeweler.