From: Sultan Sulayem To: jeevacationggmail.com Subject: Fwd: WSJ: Dubai Gold Buyers Seen Switching From Jewelry To Bullion Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:16:33 +0000 WSJ: Dubai Gold Buyers Seen Switching From Jewelry To Bullion Wednesday, Oct 12, 2011 BY Brinda Darasha The Wall Street Journal Online Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.zawya.comistory.cfm/sidZW20111012000094/Dubai-gold-buyers-seen-switching-from-jewelry-to-bullion DUBAI — The recent violent volatility in gold prices is disrupting traditional buying patterns in Dubai, with customers moving from jewelry to bullion as they renew a focus on the yellow metal's investment potential, a trend that is prompting more city jewelers to stock gold in the form of coins and bars. Dubai, known as the city of gold, is a long-established market for bullion and wholesale and retail jewelry. Its trade is fueled by demand from India, the world's number one gold consumer, and domestic consumption which, at 19 tons in the second quarter of 2011, makes the United Arab Emirates the second-largest consumer of gold jewelry and bullion in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia. Whereas traditional retail demand was for jewelry, there has been a change in buying patterns, said Pradeep Unni, senior relationship manager at Richcomm Global Services, a Dubai-based commodity services company and a broker of the Dubai Gold and Commodity Exchange, or DGCX, which trades a gold futures contract. "Earlier while women would buy gold in the form of jewelry, now one can see men, finding themselves with a bit of spare cash, go into a jewelry shop and buying ten-tola bars," he says. A ten-tola bar, called TT bar in the trade, is a traditional Indian measure of weight that equals 3.75 ounces. "Sales of gold coins and TT bars are up 30-40% on year as they aren't as expensive as the kilo bar," said Unni. Cyriac Varghese, general manager of Sky Jewellery in Dubai, has noticed a similar trend. "Wh