Gold is now the cheapest in six months. After steadily advancing almost the whole of last year, gold has suddenly halted in its tracks. At below $1,600 an ounce on Friday, prices are down almost 3% in February. The fifth straight monthly drop is gold’s worst run since 1997. Gold peaked to $1,921 in September 2011. If you have been following gold’s progress (and in India, who doesn’t), this unexpected change raises two questions. One, since jittery investors seeking risk-free assets love gold, do falling gold prices mean a rising world economy? Two, is it a good time to buy? The short answer to both is no. It is true that the global economy is no more in the same dire straits.

But that is not why gold is down. Gold is declining because physical demand is desultory. Indian and Chinese women together bought one out of every two pieces of the jewellery worth more than $100 billion sold in 2012. When jewellery goes beyond their reach, the market impact is instant.