Chart of the week: China goes for gold
Spurred on by the collapse in the price, the Chinese having been snapping up gold. From jewellery to bullion bars, the increased gold sales have pushed China up the rankings of the world's largest consumers.
China is the world's top gold producer and will soon be the largest consumer too. Chinese consumers, encouraged by last year's price slide, snapped up 1,176 tonnes of the yellow metal, a 41% increase on 2012.
Demand for gold jewellery rose 43% to 716 tonnes, but it is also increasingly seen as an investment. Gold bar sales jumped by 57% to 375 tonnes. Demand for gold in China and other emerging markets has helped prop up prices.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
MoneyWeek is written by a team of experienced and award-winning journalists, plus expert columnists. As well as daily digital news and features, MoneyWeek also publishes a weekly magazine, covering investing and personal finance. From share tips, pensions, gold to practical investment tips - we provide a round-up to help you make money and keep it.
-
73% of savers plan to rely on partner’s pension in retirement
A new survey suggests the majority of people may lack financial independence in retirement, with almost three-quarters set to rely on their partner’s pension
-
How much you need to follow the 25x retirement rule – will you have enough to be financially independent?
We explain what the 25x retirement rule is and the amount you would need to be financially independent in retirement.
-
What would the greatest mathematician of the Middle Ages say about gold today?
Sponsored Italian mathematician Fibonacci is most famous for a curious sequence of numbers. Continuing his series on technical analysis, Dominic Frisby explains what these numbers are, and what they can tell us about gold’s next move.
-
How moving averages can reveal trades worth betting on – and ones to avoid
Sponsored Dominic Frisby looks in more depth at how moving averages can help you catch turning points in markets and help you decide which trades are worth pursuing.
-
This chart pattern could be extraordinarily bullish for gold
Charts The mother of all patterns is developing in the gold charts, says Dominic Frisby. And if everything plays out well, gold could hit a price that investors could retire on.
-
Believe it or not, this market is a “buy”
Charts With the world in the state it’s in and the market so volatile, buying stocks right now might go against all your instincts. But that’s just what you should be doing, says Dominic Frisby. Here, he explains why.
-
Chart of the week: avocados and bitcoin are in sync
Charts An amusing new spurious correlation has been spotted between the price of bitcoin and Mexican Hass avocados. In reality, of course, they have nothing to do with each other beyond “superficial price action”.
-
Chart of the week: Kuwait's stockmarket is ready for take-off
Charts Kuwait's stockmarket is due to be promoted from “frontier” status to an emerging market by index provider MSCI next June. That should entice almost $10bn of global investors’ cash into the country.
-
Chart of the week: US stocks outrun profits
Charts The US stockmarket has become totally detached from underlying profits of its constituent companies over the past three years.
-
Chart of the week: Dr Copper diagnoses an ailing economy
Charts The price of copper has slipped by a fifth this year and is now at a near-two-year low of around $5,600 a tonne.