Luxury jewellers face challenges on numerous fronts — but a battered gold price is not one of them, making the sector one of the few winners amid a global commodities rout.
The yellow metal had a long bull run at the beginning of the 21st century, steadily climbing from 1999 onwards and soaring after the financial crisis hit in 2008. However, the market had peaked by the end of 2011, and this summer began hitting multi-year lows, spurred by falling demand from China and India as well as by a strengthening dollar and the prospect of rising US interest rates.
Although gold prices began climbing again in August as investors grappled with a global equity sell-off, the price is still about 40 per cent down from its historic peak of $1,900.20 in May 2011.