Demand for gold will be strong this year as it is driven by a growing appetite for jewelry in China and India as well as increase in European and United States investment on a threat of a double dip recession, the World Gold Council said yesterday.

Demand for the precious metal in India and China, the world's top two gold markets, will continue to grow in spite of high local gold prices.

In the first quarter of this year, India shone as the strongest performing market as total consumer demand surged 698 percent to 193.5 tons. In China, demand also proved resilient, up 18 percent in the period to 132 tons.

This demand stayed strong despite high local gold prices, which reached an all-time high of 8,480 yuan (US$1,242) per ounce in mid-May, suggesting that consumers in China were becoming accustomed to higher gold prices.

Concerns over Greece's public finances and debt contagion fears in Europe have led to strong buying of gold coins, bars and gold exchange traded funds this month.

"With the global economic recovery still burdened by rising debt levels in Western economies and the renewed threat of recession driving down the US dollar and equities, the outlook for gold remains highly favorable," Aram Shishmanian, CEO of the WGC, said yesterday.

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