© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Gold ornaments are seen displayed for sale at a Chow Tai Fook jewellery store in Shanghai, China November 27, 2023. REUTERS/Nicoco Chan/File Photo
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By Casey Hall and Amy Lv
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Gold buyers in China are getting younger, as a property market downturn, weakening stocks and currency and low bank deposit interest rates have left them with dwindling options to save for rainy days in a sputtering economy.
The trend underscores heightening uncertainty about growth prospects in the world’s second-largest economy, which has not recovered from COVID-19 lockdowns as fast as consumers and job hunters had expected.
“The employment market has not been very good,” said Linda Liu, 26, who works for a pharmaceuticals company in Beijing, but worries about job stability. “Buying gold makes me feel better.”
“I want gold jewellery instead of diamonds for my wedding.”
China is the world’s top buyer of physical gold and analysts say this year it has been an increasingly important driver behind a rally in global prices, which hit all-time highs on Monday.
Analysts expect Chinese demand for the safe haven metal to remain high as economic…
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