Gold demand fell this quarter when compared to the same period last year, due mainly to a decline in demand from consumers in India and China, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Overall jewellery demand was lower by 14% to 513t, from 595t in 2014 due to falls in consumer spending in Asia.

In China, slowing economic growth and a rallying stock market led to a 5% fall in demand to 174t.
In India, the heavy unseasonal rains in Q1 and drought in Q2 impacted rural incomes and affected gold demand.

In addition, a dearth of auspicious days for marriages in Q3 meant that wedding-related demand was unusually slow, leading to a fall in jewellery demand of 23% to 118t. Overall, if we look at the picture for the first half of this year in India, jewellery was down 3% to 268.8t from 276.1t (H1 2014), the WGC added.

The US remained steady, with jewellery demand up for the sixth consecutive quarter by 2% (26t). In Europe demand was also up, with Germany up 7% and the UK and Spain both growing by 6%.

Global investment demand was down 11% to 179t from 200t in Q2 2014. India was the main driver of the fall, down 30% to 37t, due to uncertain price expectations and a buoyant stock market, the WGC said.

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