Demand for gold jewellery in the Middle East, including the UAE, could dip this year if oil prices continue their downwards trajectory, the World Gold Council said yesterday.
Total gold demand in the UAE fell last year in volume and value, led by a decline in bars and coins. Demand in the UAE last year dropped by 12 per cent from 2013 to 68.2 tonnes, and it tumbled 11 per cent in the fourth quarter from the year-earlier period.
“Bullion seems to be equally bad this year. When there is volatility in the prices, we don’t see huge demand coming up,” said Pradeep Uni, the head of trading at Dubai-based Richcomm Global Services, an international commodity services company.
“There are more returns in the equity markets in the United States and others.”
UAE jewellery sales could rise by up to 5 per cent this year, depending on geopolitical events and the volatility in the price of gold, according to Tawhid Abdullah, the chairman of the Dubai Gold & Jewellery Group.
Gold sales increased by 8 per cent from a year ago at the Dubai Shopping Festival, a high season for gold sales in the emirate, Mr Abdullah said. He forecast gold prices would range between US$1,050 and $1,300 an ounce this year.
“The drop in the euro eased a little bit the cost of manufacturing, so the consumer will end up paying a little less,” Mr Abdullah said.
Gold prices were up 0.3 per cent to $1,223 an ounce in early morning trading yesterday. Prices fell last year by 1.5 per cent to end at $1,184.10 an ounce, after having peaked at about $1,900 in 2011.
Gold, a safe-haven investment in times of economic turmoil, may extend a two-year slump this year because of a stronger dollar and the expected increase in US interest rates this year.
Total demand for gold in the Middle East fell 11 per cent last year, and it dipped by 3 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, driven by lower sales of bars and coins.
“A continued preference for 18-carat and lighter-weight pieces among the region’s consumers contributed to the decline [of jewellery demand],” said the World Gold Council. “Lower oil prices have yet to feed through to discernible anxiety at the consumer level. Should they remain low for a prolonged period, demand for gold jewellery could suffer in 2015.”
Weak oil demand means less oil income for energy-exporting countries, which could affect gold consumption, particularly in the energy-exporting Arabian Gulf region.
The demand decline in the Middle East last year was steeper than the global drop in gold demand, which was down 4 per cent last year from 2013 to 3,924 tonnes. But fourth- quarter world demand rose 6 per cent from a year earlier, led by demand for jewellery and central bank buying of the precious metal. The drop in global demand last year was not surprising because consumption demand in 2013 grew at a record pace, the council said.
Last year, India overtook China as the biggest consumer of gold, despite a 14 per cent drop in total Indian demand from 2013. Chinese gold demand tumbled 38 per cent last year from 2013.
Total jewellery demand for the year was down 10 per cent from 2013. In 2014, India had its strongest year for jewellery demand since the World Gold Council’s records began in 1995. “This was driven by wedding and festival buying despite the presence of government restrictions on gold imports for most of the year,” the council said.
Central banks continued to see the value of gold as a reserve asset last year. Annual central bank demand was up 17 per cent to a 50-year high, making 2014 the fifth consecutive year that central banks were net purchasers of gold.
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Jordan cabinet changes
In
- Raed Mozafar Abu Al Saoud, Minister of Water and Irrigation
- Dr Bassam Samir Al Talhouni, Minister of Justice
- Majd Mohamed Shoueikeh, State Minister of Development of Foundation Performance
- Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
- Falah Abdalla Al Ammoush, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
- Ibrahim Sobhi Alshahahede, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment
- Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth
Out
- Dr Adel Issa Al Tawissi, Minister of High Education and Scientific Research
- Hala Noaman “Basiso Lattouf”, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Mahmud Yassin Al Sheyab, Minister of Health
- Yahya Moussa Kasbi, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Nayef Hamidi Al Fayez, Minister of Environment
- Majd Mohamed Shoueika, Minister of Public Sector Development
- Khalid Moussa Al Huneifat, Minister of Agriculture
- Dr Awad Abu Jarad Al Mushakiba, Minister of Justice
- Mounir Moussa Ouwais, Minister of Water and Agriculture
- Dr Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education
- Mokarram Mustafa Al Kaysi, Minister of Youth
- Basma Mohamed Al Nousour, Minister of Culture
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE central contracts
Full time contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Usman, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid
Part time contracts
Aryan Lakra, Ansh Tandon, Karthik Meiyappan, Rahul Bhatia, Alishan Sharafu, CP Rizwaan, Basil Hameed, Matiullah, Fahad Nawaz, Sanchit Sharma
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
