Gold Sales by Japanese Retailer Jump Before Tax Change
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Gold sales by Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry K.K., Japan’s biggest bullion retailer, increased fivefold in March as investors accelerated purchases before the nation’s consumption tax rises tomorrow.
Sales at Tanaka’s seven directly-owned stores jumped 423 percent in the first 27 days of March, compared with the entire month a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said in an e-mailed statement. Sales for the quarter through March 27 were 249 percent higher than the same three months in 2013, it said. Tanaka didn’t provide a yen value for sales.