Market Comment

News:

US demand steady ahead of Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Week. Dealers busy but not expecting record season. Good movement in 2 to 4 ct., G-H, VS-SI categories for rounds and long fancies. E-commerce sales across all products +8% YOY to $79.7B for Nov.1-23, Adobe reports. US diamond prices stable. Indian prices for rounds under 1.20 ct. declining, with 0.50 ct. the weakest size. Indian retail market steady. No consensus for new conflict-diamond definition at Kimberley Process plenary. Chow Tai Fook fiscal 1H sales -1% YOY to $5B. Luk Fook estimates fiscal 1H sales up 20%-30%. The Rapaport Group wishes all our friends a happy Thanksgiving and a successful holiday season.

Fancies:

Long fancy shapes such as Oval, Marquise and Emerald doing better than rounds in 2 ct. and larger. High-quality Marquises, long Radiants and long Cushions in short supply. Marquises most expensive fancy shapes. Long Cushions easy to sell and trading at 20% to 25% premium over square ones. Solid US market for elongated Ovals of good shape and quality in D-I, VS-SI categories. US Oval prices 5% to 10% higher than those of Pears. Very well-cut fancy shapes difficult to find and commanding premiums. Fancies with bad proportions illiquid.