DUBAI: Dubai’s gold jewelry sales volume rose 17 percent in June after picking up in the second quarter on expatriate demand, a senior gold industry executive in the Gulf Arab emirate said yesterday.

“After prices became less volatile and relatively lower later in the quarter demand picked up by almost 15 percent, and in June it was up by more than 17 percent,” Tawhid Abdullah, managing-director of the Dubai Gold and Jewelry Group told Reuters. “We are also entering the peak of summer where demand from expatriates, mainly from India, picks up as they buy gifts crafted in gold for their friends and family back home.” A large part of Dubai’s expatriate community, mainly from the Indian subcontinent, spends part of the summer abroad. Gold powered to a record of $1,030.80 an ounce on March 17 on record crude oil prices, fears of inflation, and expectations of interest rate cuts in the United States, making the metal more attractive as an alternative investment.

Gold has since fallen and traded around $924 an ounce yesterday as the dollar firmed to a one-week high amid expectations the European Central Bank will not raise interest rates further and oil prices eased more than $2 a barrel.