India’s Gold Import Duty Expected to be Cut

India’s demand for gold was muted this week as buyers in the world’s top consumer of the metal held off purchases ahead of an expected cut in the gold import duty and a likely drop in local prices.

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Dealers hope to step up purchases if the import duty is lowered from a record 10% in Saturday’s federal budget, to meet demand from the upcoming wedding season and Akshay Tritiya, a major festival associated with gold-buying in April.

Japanese silver saw the biggest upwards shift for the day, rising 1.4% to close at JPY 632.00 ($5.32) per 10 grams on Thursday, February 26. US silver finished the day up 0.3% to $16.54 per ounce. The price of Indian silver steadied at INR 36,924 ($596.65) per kilogram following two-days of increases. The price of Chinese silver saw essentially no change for the fifth day in a row, remaining around CNY 3,640 ($581.58) per kilogram.

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Following a couple days of improvement, the price of Indian gold bullion weakened by 0.3%. Prices closed at INR 26,563 ($429.23) per 10 grams. Japanese gold bullion gained 0.2% to finish at JPY 4,623 ($38.90) per gram. The price of US gold bullion remained steady at $1,204 per ounce. The price of Chinese gold bullion held steady at CNY 247.91 ($39.61) per gram.

Japanese platinum bar prices rose 0.4% to JPY 4,512 ($37.97) per gram. The price of US platinum bar increased 0.3% to $1,168 per ounce. For the fifth day in a row, the price of Chinese platinum bar remained essentially flat at CNY 259.00 ($41.38) per gram.

After a 1.4% increase, Japanese palladium bar finished the day at JPY 3,103 ($26.11) per gram. US palladium bar saw its price rise 0.5% to $804.00 per ounce. The price of Chinese palladium bar continues hovering around CNY 174.00 ($27.80) per gram for the fifth day in a row.

[download-button url=”https://agmetalminer.com/monthly-report-metal-price-index-trends-february-2015/”] Download: MetalMiner’s February Price Trends Report[/download-button]