(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) When the price of gold plunged on Friday, Chinese investors lined up at the only Singapore bank selling gold products to retail customers to take advantage of the dip.
The underscores a fundamental dynamic in this gold bull market – regular people want the yellow metal, no matter what the big bankers are doing.
Ng Beng Choo is a 70-something-year-old retiree. She arrived at the headquarters of UOB at 9:30 a.m. to get her place in line. She got a ticket but was still waiting for her turn six hours later.
“I came to buy because the price of gold dropped today,” she told The Business Times.
Late arrivals were out of luck. Notices posted later in the day on Monday read, “Due to overwhelming response, the buy queue tickets have all been fully issued for the day. Your patience is appreciated.”
As The Business Times article framed it, a long-running rally in precious metals kicked into overdrive last month as the Trump administration upended the geopolitical order and renewed its attacks on the U.S. Federal Reserve.
“Those surges went into reverse on Friday, and the rout continued apace on Monday. At one point, gold had dropped by more than a fifth from a record high last week. But rather than seek to sell, many retail investors appeared to be trying to buy the dip in gold.”
Many stood in line only to be disappointed. According to reports, the bank completely sold out of MKS PAMP products. The company is one of the most recognized bullion brands in Asia.
Buyers weren’t only lining up in Shanghai. In Sydney, Australia, a queue snaked out into the street from an ABC Bullion outlet.
Alex, a customer in his 20s, told a reporter that he lost a lot of money on Friday, yet he was still eager to buy more gold. “Tomorrow’s a new day,” he said.
A Thai analyst said investors there are also still in a buying mood.
“It’s still a buying trend in here in Thailand. They’re holding the old position and then just hold and see.”
Physical gold demand, especially in the East, has been a foundational dynamic in this gold bull market, with coin and bar demand hitting a 12-year high of 1,374.1 tonnes.
In value terms, global bar and coin demand was a record-breaking $154 billion.
More than half of the global coin and bar demand came from two countries – China and India.
According to the World Gold Council, “The rise in the gold price was overwhelmingly the most important factor driving stronger demand.”
However, bar and coin demand in the U.S. did not grow in volume despite a strong fourth quarter. In value terms, U.S. physical gold investment rose by a relatively modest 8 percent.
According to The Business Times report, despite the selloff, the dynamics supporting the gold bull market remain firmly in place, noting that Deutsche Bank has maintained its $6,000 gold forecast for 2026.
“Retail buyers may be betting that the main drivers of gold’s ascent – an increasingly unpredictable U.S. President Donald Trump and the debasement trade where investors avoid currencies and sovereign bonds – are still intact.”
Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.
