Buyers in the world’s two major gold markets – India and China – capitalised on the falling prices. However, their enthusiasm helped to halt the decline in gold prices and Asia later recorded a one per cent price increase at the close of the day’s trading.
Zuma Press reported that Delhi gold stores were suddenly packed.
One shopper, 57-year-old businessman Abdul Subhan, said: "My daughter is getting married next month. We came to buy as soon as we heard that prices have fallen. We had to buy gold anyway. Now we have advanced our shopping because gold has become cheaper."
The timing of a gold price drop couldn’t be better in India. Traditionally, from April to June, most gold jewellery purchases are made ahead of the wedding season when brides are customarily given gifts of gold.
Many gold jewellery pieces reportedly dropped 20-25 per cent in value in a week, and, after frenetic buying, had rebounded around 8-10 per cent.
In a Wall Street Journal report, a local trader in Hong Kong said it was the sharpest fall in gold prices in more than 10 years.
He said that gold price lists at his shops had to be updated every 15 minutes during the day.
Store owners added that sales at smaller gold retail shops were up by more than 50 per cent from normal levels. The most popular items were gold bracelets for weddings. Some larger jewellery retailers were said to have sold out of gold bars.
In Singapore, store staff missed lunch breaks in order to deal with the sudden influx of gold jewellery buying customers. Some bullion dealers warned they were in danger of running out of gold coins and bars if demand stayed strong.
Shopkeepers in Dubai were also under pressure to keep up with demand in the emirate’s Middle East gold trading hub. There, gold coins and 24-carat gold were popular, with one store selling 10kg of gold in a day, up from a regular 1kg per day.
In Japan last week, queues of gold-buyers have replaced the lines of gold-sellers who, not long ago, were “cashing-in” on high gold prices and selling off old family heirlooms.
In the world's second-largest gold market, China, stores reported a more subdued increase in customer numbers.