Dubai gold market loses lustre with crude price plunge

London

THE historic Dubai marketplace that calls itself the City of Gold is becoming more of a glittering ghost town.

Under streets and alleys covered by roofs to protect window shoppers from the intense desert sun, more than 300 stores peddle everything from ingots to Bedouin jewellery. The Dubai Gold Souk had become one of the largest such marketplaces, offering tax-free precious metal, as Persian Gulf oil wealth ballooned in the past few decades.