The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
BEIJING, China — Gold is headed for its longest streak of losses since October as buying from China comes to a sudden stop ahead of the country's traditional week-long holiday to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Prices have dropped 2.7 percent in the past four days, cutting the year’s gains in half. China, the biggest consumer of gold, increased purchases in the run-up to the start of the Year of the Rooster this week, when bars or jewellery made from the metal are traditionally given as gifts.
“We expect full year Chinese demand to still fall short of levels seen in 2015,” Nell Agate, a Citigroup Inc. metals analyst, said by e-mail from London. “It’s possible that Chinese jewellery sales are likely to slow as the Chinese break for new year festivities.”
Spot metal touched the lowest price in more than two weeks on Friday. A firming dollar and rising equity indexes near record highs also weighed on demand for the haven.
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Gold for immediate delivery fell 0.3 percent to $1,185.49 an ounce by 11:35 a.m. in London. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed above 20,000 for the first time this week and the MSCI All-Country World Index is near a record.
Palladium also headed for its biggest weekly drop in more than a year.
In other precious metals:
By Eddie van der Walt; editors: Lynn Thomasson, Tony Barrett and Liezel Hill.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
While travel to Europe remains muted, Chinese shoppers are flocking to Singapore, Thailand and other Southeast Asian destinations where fashion retailers are hoping Lunar New Year marketing investments will pay off.
Local fashion designers experimenting with puffers and other down clothing have scored collaborations with outerwear companies like Moncler and attracted the attention of prominent international retailers like H.Lorenzo.