(The opinions expressed in this article represent the views of

PolishedPrices, an independent news and price list provider to

the diamond industry and should not be seen as reflecting the

Views of Reuters)



With many offices still closed for the summer holidays during the past week,

the overall PolishedPrices index continued to slide in quiet trading.

The main PolishedPrices index opened down 1.3% from the previous week on Monday

at 166.6 points.

The overall index is currently 35.0% above its level of this time last year, and

has gained 26.8% since the start of the year.

There was weakness across nearly all of the benchmark categories, with only Fine

1.0 carats showing a gain of 1.6%.

The main weakness came from Fine 0.3 carats, which fell 5.1%.