logo
Dubai gold price drops - again - ahead of April 30's 'Akshaya Trithiya'

Dubai gold price drops - again - ahead of April 30's 'Akshaya Trithiya'

Gulf News28-04-2025

Dubai: The Dubai gold rate is dropping – and it couldn't be happening in a better week for shoppers out there. A gram of 22K is at Dh367 (and Dh396.25 for 24K) and showing signs that there could be more price dips in the next 24-48 hours.
These are the lowest levels in the last 7 days, and there remains a good chance that the Dubai gold price could end up around Dh360.
Will these be enough to turbo-charge a clear spike on April 30 and the Indian gold buying festival of 'Akshaya Trithiya'? Based on trends, gold retailers say that UAE resident-shoppers are back in the game. 'There have been early bookings to ensure price lock-ins ahead of the actual April 30 purchase,' said a jeweler. 'That's been clear during the last weekend, and there is hope of the price lowering further.'
How has Dubai gold price fared?
It's only in comparison over the last 7 days that the current Dubai gold rate is more buyer-friendly. The lowest since March 30 has been Dh331.5 for 22K (Dh356.25 for 24K) on April 7. 'But a lot has changed in April itself, first with the US announcement of tariffs, then the dollar weakening after some of President Trump's remarks, and other factors,' said a commodities analyst. (In between Dubai gold rate had even soared to Dh388 for 22K and over Dh400 for the 24K kind.)
'So, today's current price of Dh367 is still a good level for an investment.'
Lower making charges – and gold coins
Shoppers are checking out all the promotions that are there, whether it's retailers slashing making charges and offering gold coins on a minimum purchase.
"Retailers are rushing out with up to 50% cuts in making charges, or even removing it altogether on some gold coin purchases," said a jeweller. "If shoppers are assured that they are getting more dirham savings on making charges, then the actual price of a buy looks even more reasonable."
Bullion trades
In the global metals market, bullion is trading is at $3,280 an ounce, well down on the $3,318 it closed at on Friday last. Another $30-$50 an ounce drop puts the ball in shoppers' favour- they haven't had a favourable run for weeks now.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

The 'Taco Trump' jibe proves that words do really matter
The 'Taco Trump' jibe proves that words do really matter

The National

time2 hours ago

  • The National

The 'Taco Trump' jibe proves that words do really matter

It's one of the most famous quotes from Shakespeare: 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.' Juliet says it about Romeo, suggesting she loves him not for his family connections but for who he is. In modern politics however, especially in the US, names and name-calling in the Donald Trump era seem to have a different significance, and it's not so sweet. American media outlets are full of observations about the nickname given to Mr Trump by Wall Street insiders. He is known, they say, as 'Taco Trump', but not because of his fondness for those crispy Mexican delicacies. It's for his fondness for tariffs that are put on foreign imports at extremely high levels and then reduced – and then maybe reimposed and reduced again. The 'Taco' tag stands for 'Trump Always Chickens Out' meaning that he talks tough, makes an announcement but when confronted by resistance or jitters in the bond market, he backs down. Mr Trump has described the nickname as 'nasty', but he himself is the king of nicknames and clickbait-friendly put-downs. He repeatedly referred to his predecessor Joe Biden as 'Sleepy Joe'. He talked of 'Crooked Hillary' Clinton. He sums up his entire political philosophy in four letters – not Taco but 'Maga', which stands for 'Make America Great Again'. It's not clear exactly when America ceased to be great, but that isn't the point. Maga is a stroke of genius. It means that any American voter can think of anything in their lives that they don't like, and Mr Trump's slogan somehow might miraculously fix it. Outside the US, in some other countries Maga has come to mean 'Make America Go Away' and stop tariffs unsettling the world economy. There are even ruder terms in circulation that I won't quote here but which are used to describe the Trump-inspired market fluctuations. This market volatility has been noted by investors who – if they assume that tariff uncertainty is pushing markets up and down – may be able to choose how to buy in the dip and sell on the upturn at a profit. Reuters quoted Mark Spindel, the chief investment officer of Potomac River Capital, observing that the market is caught 'in a pinball machine as a result of [Mr Trump's] policymaking process'. The White House official line is that Taco and the other jibes are 'asinine acronyms', but the fact they have had to respond suggests Mr Trump and his staff are well aware of the communication skills involved in making a neat – if nasty – nickname or observation. It's a skill that Mr Trump has himself used for years. Why? Because it works. The stark truth about politics and economics in the 21st century is that most voters don't have the patience, the inclination or even the skills to analyse economic or trade policies. What tariff should be on imports of beef? How about cars or clothing or iPhones? What are the implications? Will the share prices of importers and manufacturers go up or down? Most of us don't know, and perhaps most of us don't care, until the car or washing machine or clothes we plan to buy suddenly go up in price. But a brief phrase or nasty nickname cuts through where a PhD in economics or a disquisition on the benefits of free trade may not. The Taco jibe has also sparked off a creative deluge of another kind. On social media there are now endless memes, some showing Mr Trump in a yellow chicken suit, sometimes covered in tacos. When popular culture picks up a meme or a slogan like this – as all those Maga hats prove – then words really do matter and they cut through. So what should Mr Trump do about the Taco jibe? Nothing, probably. Ignore it. But it will not go away. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a probable candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2028, jokes publicly that 'it's raining tacos'. Other Democrats, who have seemed silent or even neutered by the Trump blitz on Washington, have picked up the serious point. For them, the Taco jibe sums up in four letters the Trump administration's apparent economic incoherence in the way tariffs are being used. Until most voters notice changes in prices to the things they want to buy but can no longer afford, the economic arguments may be lost. But the political capital from the nickname, especially the alliteration of 'Taco Trump', is appearing on outlets ranging from the sober pages of The New York Times to the lower depths of clickbait social media. For Mr Trump's opponents, it's a useful propaganda tool. And it may have wider implications, too. This is a President who suggested he could end the Ukraine war in 24 hours, change China's lucrative US trade imbalances and solve the problems of Gaza. Faced with leaders like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Benjamin Netanyahu, perhaps the Taco tag and the idea that 'Trump Always Chickens Out' is something the world's hard-nosed leaders may already be considering.

US stock futures dip as investors await trade negotiations
US stock futures dip as investors await trade negotiations

Zawya

time4 hours ago

  • Zawya

US stock futures dip as investors await trade negotiations

U.S. stock index futures slipped on Tuesday as investors awaited possible negotiations between the United States and its trading partners for more clarity on the tariff war that has roiled financial markets for months. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to speak this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday, days after Trump accused China of violating an agreement to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions. Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants countries to provide their best offer on trade negotiations by Wednesday as officials seek to accelerate talks with multiple partners ahead of a self-imposed deadline in just five weeks, according to a draft letter to negotiating partners seen by Reuters. Trump said last week he planned to double tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50% starting on Wednesday, fuelling fresh concerns among investors and impeding global stocks' march to record highs. In May, however, a softening of Trump's harsh trade stance allowed a recovery in risky assets, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting their biggest monthly percentage gain since November 2023. The S&P 500 remains less than 4% away from its record highs touched in February. "Market sentiment cannot find an anchor since trade policies remain fluid," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development revised its global growth forecast down to 2.9% for 2025, from 3.1% expected earlier, citing the effects of Trump's trade war on the U.S. economy. Deutsche Bank, however, raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 6,550 from 6,150, citing lower tariff-related pressure on earnings and a resilient economy. At 07:22 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 132 points, or 0.31%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 14.5 points, or 0.24%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 26.75 points, or 0.12%. Most megacap and growth stocks were down in premarket trade. April factory orders and JOLTS job openings data are scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. U.S. central bank officials including Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Dallas President Lorie Logan are due to speak through the day. Later in the week, monthly jobs data may offer more signs on how trade uncertainty is affecting the world's biggest economy. In stocks, Pinterest rose 3.8% after raised its rating to "overweight" from "neutral". Constellation Energy rose 13.9% after Meta Platforms said it had struck a power agreement with the utility's nuclear plant. Dollar General rose 10.8% as the discount retailer raised its annual sales forecast after surpassing quarterly sales expectations. (Reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

Dollar lingers near six-week low as trade war wears on US economy
Dollar lingers near six-week low as trade war wears on US economy

Zawya

time4 hours ago

  • Zawya

Dollar lingers near six-week low as trade war wears on US economy

The dollar hovered near six-week lows on Tuesday, as mounting evidence of economic damage from the trade war waged by President Donald Trump's administration weighed on sentiment. While global equity markets have broadly recovered in the wake of the on-again, off-again saga of Trump's tariff threats, the greenback remains firmly on the back foot. Factory and jobs data in the coming days may give further signs of the toll that trade uncertainty is wreaking on the world's biggest economy. U.S. duties on imported steel and aluminium are set to double to 50% starting on Wednesday, the same day the Trump administration expects countries to submit their best offers in trade negotiations. "What this whole dynamic is basically saying is trade tensions are not really improving in that regard, and we've seen the dollar getting hammered widely," said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank. "Interestingly, the Aussie and the kiwi have been the good performers this time around." The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six others, touched 98.58, the lowest since late April, before rising 0.5%. The dollar was up 0.26% against the yen at 143.075. The euro fell 0.44% to $1.1392, having briefly touched a six-week high of $1.1454. Data earlier showed inflation in the euro zone slowed below the European Central Bank's target of 2%, underpinning expectations for a rate cut later this week. The dollar sank broadly on Monday after data showed U.S. manufacturing contracted for a third month in May and tariff snarls meant suppliers took longer to deliver goods. Attention now turns to U.S. factory order numbers on Tuesday, followed by jobs data later in the week. The dollar got some respite last week, rising 0.3% after trade talks with the European Union got back on track and a U.S. trade court blocked the bulk of Trump's tariffs. An appeals court reinstated the duties a day later, and Trump's administration said it had other avenues to implement them if it loses in court. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were likely to have a call soon to iron out trade differences, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, although on Monday there was an angry rejection from China's Commerce Ministry of U.S. accusations that Beijing violated their trade agreement. "Trade developments remain crucial. Reports suggest China is gaining leverage over the U.S. through its control of chip supply chains and rare earths," ING strategist Francesco Pesole said. "Trump and Xi Jinping are set to speak this week, and past direct talks have sometimes eased tensions. That leaves room for a positive surprise that could help the dollar at some point this week," he said. Fiscal worries have also given rise to a broad "sell America" theme that has seen dollar assets from stocks to Treasury bonds dropping in recent months. Those concerns come into sharp focus this week as the Senate starts considering the administration's tax cut and spending bill, estimated to add $3.8 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade. (Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Sonali Paul, Jacqueline Wong and David Evans)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store