Rallying stock market challenges China's gold demand: report

Chinese stock market's meteoric rise is hitting local demand for gold, according to a report by an industrial association on Thursday.

Rallying domestic equity markets ate into Q1 gold demand, with jewelry demand down by 10 percent from a year ago; a sizable drop given the size of the market, according to a report released by the World Gold Council.

Chinese consumers turned their attention to the stock markets. Data from the China Securities Regulatory Commission showed that almost eight million new stock accounts were opened in the first quarter, four times more than the year before.

While the majority of these were among people born after 1980, it also included the "Da Ma", women in their fifties or more, who were among the most prolific buyers during the gold rush of 2013, the report said. Enditem