Summary
- Indian gold imports were 51.8t in December 2019 – 19% lower y-o-y
- The domestic gold price increased by 3.2% in December, ending the year 23.8% higher than the end of 2018
- Wedding and stable domestic gold price at ~Rs 37800/10gm helped demand in first half of December but demand tailed off after 15th December after the beginning of inauspicious period and rising gold price which jumped by 3.7% from mid-December till end of the month.1
- With soft demand, the average discount in the local market widened to US$4/oz in the second half of December compared to an average discount of US$1/oz in first half of December
- RBI resumed gold purchase from October after a hiatus of 5 months and added ~ 15 tonnes of gold in October and November.
India’s consumer price inflation rises to 65-month high and SENSEX closed at all time high in December
The Indian economy continued to show signs of stress in December. Consumer price inflation (CPI) continued its upward trajectory and reached a 65-month high of 7.35% in December, led by 60.5% increase in vegetable prices. Core inflation crept up to 3.75% in December, up from 3.5% in November (Chart 1).