The return of the gold rush

Last week's sharp drop in the gold price has brought out the bargain-hunters. Investors in Asia have rushed into the market to top up on jewellery, coins and bars, notes Josh Noble in the Financial Times. According to Haywood Cheung, president of the Hong Kong Gold & Silver Exchange Society, there hasn't been a gold rush of this size at the exchange for over 20 years.

A Hong Kong-based jewellery giant said demand from the mainland hasn't been this strong since the late 1980s. Trading volume on the Shanghai gold exchange reached a record high early this week. In India, imminent Hindu festivals have provided a further incentive to stock up. Asian buying has persisted despite gold's 8% jump from last week's lows.

The buying surge in Asia is a reminder that the physical markets "can offer support during times of weakness", says UBS's Joni Teves. It has offset the impact of global investors ditching their paper gold-related assets. But at least some of these skittish investors should also be back.

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As Ambrose Evan-Pritchard points out in The Daily Telegraph, emerging-market central banks have been stocking up and should thus join the bargain-hunters. And the odds are that "the era of money printing is young yet".

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