The World Gold Council (WGC) has proposed an initiative to build a physically-backed shared infrastructure to advance the growth of digital gold. WGC through a white paper has proposed the concept of 'Gold as a Service', a platform owned and operated by the World Gold Council and built as shared infrastructure that any market participant can access to build digital gold products without needing to develop their own end-to-end systems. While digital gold products exist, they operate across fragmented infrastructure with inconsistent custody standards, redemption terms and governance frameworks, WGC Chief Strategy Officer Terry Heymann told PTI. "The idea behind this initiative is to provide a shared infrastructure which could help gold to play a greater role in the digital economy. This will be backed by physical gold this will be accredited, inspected regularly, with processes in place to make sure that gold has been responsibly sourced and is accounted for," Heymann said. Gold as
Apurva Sheth, head of market perspectives and research at SAMCO Securities believes that the recent buying frenzy in both gold and silver has been led by FOMO - buying out of fear of missing out
This holding is nearly 88.8 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP), the note said; and at the current market value is about 3.1x times the current equity stock holding with Indian households
Central banks, WGC said, added a net 15 tonnes to global gold reserves in August, based on reported data from both the IMF and respective central banks.
In their bear-case scenario, WGC sees gold prices dip 12 - 17 per cent in H2-CY25 finishing 2025 with positive but low double-digit (or even single-digit) return
The key risks to the upside in gold, BofA Securities said includes US fiscal consolidation, reduced geopolitical tensions, and a return to collaborative inter-governmental relations
The recent uptick in gold prices in 2025 has been led by tariff threats by US president Donald Trump, which in turn have seen investors move away from equities to safer havens.
Spot gold prices rose by 27 per cent last year, the most since 2010, as investors chose the metal to hedge against global risks and as the US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates
Demand for gold could stand between 700 metric tonnes and 800 metric tonnes, compared to last year's 802.8 tonnes
Goldman Sachs expects gold prices to reach $3,150 per ounce (bull-case scenario; base case: $3,000/oz) by December 2025, an upside of around 17 per cent from the current levels
The WGC, an industry body grouping global gold miners, said North American gold demand was boosted by uncertainty around the US presidential election
India's gold demand witnessed an 18 per cent on-year growth during the July-September quarter of this year to 248.3 tonnes, as the reduction in gold import duty resulted in a revival in jewellery demand, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in a report on Wednesday. The overall gold demand during the corresponding quarter of last year stood at 210.2 tonnes, according to the WGC's Q3 2024 Gold Demand Trends report. However, with gold prices ruling at all-time highs, there might be an increased trend for investors to wait for price corrections. The full-year gold demand is likely to be in the range of 700-750 tonnes, slightly less than last year, as Dhanteras and wedding season is likely to boost overall gold demand. In 2023, India's gold demand stood at 761 tonnes. On Tuesday, gold price rose by Rs 300 to Rs 81,400 per 10 grams, near its record high level, in the national capital due to heavy demand for Dhanteras by jewellers and retailers. In terms of value, gold demand went up by 53
Gold demand in the world's second-biggest consumer of the precious metal could stand between 700 and 750 metric tons in 2024, the lowest since 2020 and down from last year's 761 tons
Total demand for gold, including opaque OTC trading, rose 5 per cent to 1,313 tons, a record for a third quarter, the WGC said
Gold demand India: Gold prices, meanwhile, surged 18 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the June 2024 quarter to $2,338.2 an ounce (oz), and were up nearly 13 per cent when compared with the December 2023
In dollar terms, gold prices hit $2,331/oz at the end of H1-CY24, according to WGC data, rising 12.1 per cent during this period
WGC defines gold ETFs as regulated securities that hold gold in physical form. These include open-ended funds traded on regulated exchanges and other regulated products like closed-end funds and MFs
On the other hand, gold prices have seen a rise in the last few months amid steady demand, especially from the global central banks
China's official gold reserves, Wood said, have increased by 314 tonnes, or 16.1 per cent, from 1,948 tonnes at the end of October 2022 to 2,262 tonnes at the end of March 2024
Demand shot to an 11-year high in 2022 thanks to the biggest central bank on record. Gold prices, meanwhile, are near record highs above $2,000 an ounce