LONDON, May 4 — Surrounded by glass-fronted display cabinets filled with shimmering gold bracelets and necklaces at London’s Pakeeza Jewellers store, manager Zahid Khan laments the impact of record-high prices of the precious metal.

“People are obviously buying not as much as before,” Khan told AFP as his sales staff weighed gold necklaces and tapped into calculators, adding there had been a “big increase” in prices.