Tsafi

[popeyej]

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Global gold demand in the second quarter jumped 19 percent year-on-year to 922 tonnes as less volatile prices spurred jewelry buying in India and around the world, industry-sponsored World Gold Council (WGC) said Wednesday.

Total jewelry demand for the second quarter rose 29 percent year-on-year to 675.1 tonnes, propelled by a 89-percent gain in top consumer India, as well as China and the Middle East, WGC said in its quarterly "Gold Demand Trends."

"What we've seen in the latest quarter is a return to a much more normal level of price volatility," George Milling-Stanley, WGC's manager of investment and market intelligence, told Reuters before the release of the report.

Milling-Stanley said that price volatility could be more damaging to jewelry consumption compared with higher gold prices.

"What these figures suggest to me is that consumers seem increasingly comfortable with the level of the price, which is 6 percent above the second quarter of last year," he said.