Local gold market rises 6 per cent on first trading day of Year of the Monkey
Investors see gold as safe bet amid stock market slump
Hong Kong and international gold markets rose on Thursday, with investors seeing gold as a safe bet amid slumping stock markets.
The Hong Kong gold market traded at the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society rose on the first trading day of the Year of Monkey to close at HK$11,248 a tael at 5pm, up HK$630 a tael, or 5.93 per cent from Friday.
Yuan-denominated gold bars traded at 252.95 yuan per gram at 6pm on Thursday, up 15.16 yuan, or 6.23 per cent from Friday. The yuan-demominated gold trades electronically until 5am.
The US gold market traded at about US$1,192.96 an ounce on Thursday, close to a seven-month high of US$1,200, after US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen indicated there would be only “gradual” adjustments to monetary policy.
Local gold bourse president Steven Chan said he expected the gold price would rise to US$1,300 an ounce, from last year’s trading range of US$1,000 to US$1,200 an ounce.
“The weak economies worldwide will mean US will slow down its pace in increasing interest rates in the first half of the year,” Chan said as he hosted the opening ceremony of the first gold trading day in the Year of the Monkey. “Japan and Europe are still keeping their interest rates low. These factors will help keep the gold price up.
“In addition, stocks, funds, futures and bonds have all been performing badly, which will also help boost the price of gold.”