Indian Jewellery Stocks Drop After Modi's Gold Appeal

Indian jewellery stocks plunged on Monday following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to citizens to postpone gold purchases and foreign travel for one year to conserve foreign exchange reserves amid escalating pressures from the West Asia crisis.

Shares of major companies led the selloff, with Sky Gold and Diamonds dropping 12 percent to 475 rupees, Senco Gold falling 11 percent to 325 rupees, Kalyan Jewellers declining nearly 10 percent to 382 rupees, and Titan Company sliding 8 percent to 4,151 rupees. Other firms including Thangamayil Jewellery, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, and PC Jeweller saw losses between 6 percent and 10 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The broader market also weakened, as the Sensex index shed 1,082 points to 76,244 and the Nifty dropped 309 points to 23,865 in morning trade.

Modi made the comments Sunday during a BJP rally in Secunderabad, emphasizing the need to save foreign exchange "by any means" due to the West Asia conflict, which has driven up oil prices above 100 dollars per barrel. He urged reduced consumption of petrol, diesel, chemical fertilizers, and edible oil, along with carpooling, greater use of electric vehicles and metro rail,...