Across the border in India – where the Nifty stock index today rose 1.5% to close at a 52-week high – gold imports fell for the fifth month running in September, according to the Bombay Bullion Association.

"Overall imports will be less than last year as prices are still too high," reckons BBA vice-president Harmesh Arora, speaking to Bloomberg.

Totaling some 50 tonnes this month – down four tonnes from Sept. last year – gold imports to India, formerly the world's No.1 private buyer of physical metal, may drop by three-quarters in full-year 2009 compared with the 759-tonne peak 2007.

For developed-world investors, in contrast, "Western governments are carrying out an unparalleled experiment with their public finances," says William Brockhurst, manager of the private-client Cheviot Balanced Fund in London.

"Gold remains the ultimate store of value and the only truly safe currency out there [and] now looks like an opportune time to buy," he writes for CityWire.

"The Chinese authorities recently started running adverts extolling the advantages of owning gold. China’s biggest bank, the ICBC, has set up a division to cater to increasing demand."

Analysis by BullionVault shows that, over the last 10 years, the proportion of annual savings put into gold by Chinese households has almost doubled to 1.8%, even as those savings have swelled by 260%.

"If Gold Investment is set to become the next craze for 1.3 billion Chinese people," says Brockhurst, "we'd like some in our portfolios first."

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Courtesy: www.bullionvault.com