Global financial bigwigs are no match for China's "Da Ma", or housewives, who have swarmed into gold stores across China, buying up 300 tons of gold over the past two weeks. No wonder gold prices have steadied after taking a dive.
During the May Day holiday, gold stores were crowded with mostly female customers. Most of them are middle-aged "Chinese housewives". This group of buyers has risen to fame recently. They are big spenders and are desperate to get their hands on a bargain.
"I bought some gold jewellery and kept them as a gift for my son when he gets married," said a buyer from Shanghai.
The gold business is skyrocketing. "Our sales are growing by the day. Yesterday we sold more than ten million yuan of gold products," a gold store salesperson said.
The gold rush in China started about two weeks ago thanks to a decline in global gold prices. Media reports suggest that Chinese housewives have spent about 100 billion yuan, or about 16 billion US dollars, purchasing 300 tons of gold since mid-April. That has helped support gold prices.
"Gold prices plunged since the middle of last month but have rebounded gradually. That is mainly due to the strong demand from Asian markets," said forex trader Zhang Chen from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China. "Some people even joked that Chinese housewives have beaten Wall Street analysts."
For Chinese people, with limited investment options, the only thing better than buying gold is buying gold at discount prices.
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