Asian trading hours have been a key driver at gold price rebounds during the first half of the year, while the pullbacks tended to occur when US markets were open, according to the council’s global midyear outlook report published on July 1.
“It … showcased the growing relevance of Asian markets in gold price discovery,” the industry body’s analysts said in the report.
“In Asian countries such as China, India and Japan, gold ETF demand was driven by other reasons including but not limited to geopolitical risks, local gold price strength, local currency weakness etc.,” Jia said.
The gold price is expected to have upside potential in the second half of this year, even after dropping to around US$4,000 per ounce as of June 26 following a surge to 12 all‑time highs in late January amid the Middle East turmoil, the report said.