Europe gives gold froth, Asia still the broth

There were two surprising elements in the World Gold Council's third quarter report: the leap in Europe's gold demand and the slump in India's.

The trick is working out whether these are the start of some significant new trend or once-off phenomena that can be explained away by temporary factors.

Europe's demand for gold bars, coin and investments surged 135 percent to 118.1 tonnes in the third quarter from the year-earlier period.

This was the major contributor in the 6 percent overall gain in gold demand to 1,053.9 tonnes in the quarter, the highest level since the three months ended June last year.

Text: Clyde Russell, Reuters

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