China, 27 October 2026 – Chinese household appetite for gold has strengthened as bullion prices softened and onshore equities lost momentum. The Shanghai Gold Exchange’s Au99.99 contract recorded 43 million lots last week, equivalent to about 430 tonnes and its highest turnover since April. The fully funded contract requires physical delivery, making the activity a signal of physical-market demand rather than leveraged trading as gold tests US$4,000 an ounce.
The shift matters to Asian investors because household purchases are helping support bullion even as the price approaches a major threshold. It also reflects a search for alternatives amid a property downturn and record-low returns on government bonds in China. Those conditions help explain demand, but do not establish that prices will continue rising: gold pays no interest, and its value remains sensitive to global rates, currencies and investor positioning.
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