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Central banks back at it, jewelry fell

Central banks worldwide are on track to buy 1,000 metric tons of gold in 2025, which would be their fourth year of massive purchases as they diversify reserves from dollar-denominated assets into bullion, consultancy Metals Focus said.

The price rally has so far kept purchases by central banks, a crucial category of demand, unaffected with the first-quarter buying in line with the 2022-24 quarterly average, Metals Focus said in its annual report on Thursday.

Jewelry demand for bullion has been hit hard by the price rally. Gold jewelry fabrication fell 9% to 2,011 tons in 2024 and is expected to deliver a 16% slump this year with India and China accounting for much of this decline.

Source – Reuters

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