Investors more cautious over gold

Chinese investors are showing different attitudes toward investment in gold products and are more cautious than they were earlier this year, industry watchers said Tuesday, after international gold prices saw their most dramatic one-month decline in November since 1978.

"The number of gold bars sold in our store this weekend increased by at least 30 percent compared with the last weekend of October," Jiao

Guangyi, deputy general manager of Beijing Sun Gold Store, told the Global Times Tuesday.

Jiao said most of the buyers thought it was a good opportunity to buy gold products as the price had declined to a low level.

The domestic spot gold price, which fluctuates based on international gold prices, declined to 242 yuan ($39.71) per gram Tuesday, around 6 percent lower compared with the beginning of November.

Chinese investors were generally enthusiastic about buying gold earlier this year.

In April, for instance, prices for the precious metal saw an abrupt drop, prompting a buying spree.

Gold bars and gold accessories were sold out within a few days in department stores in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing, according to local media reports in April, when the spot gold price declined to around 300 yuan per gram, nearly 10 percent lower than at the beginning of the year.

Affluent dama, middle-aged Chinese women, are seen as one of the major groups of buyers for gold products.

"I couldn't wait to buy gold as many of my colleagues and friends had already made their purchases," one consumer was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying in April.

However, many of these enthusiastic investors suffered losses as prices have dropped further since April.

"Their purchasing approach has become more cautious than before," Jiao noted.

Recently, customers have been buying gold bars "in smaller amounts to avoid risks," said Jiao.

Peng Lihong, a 30-year-old white-collar worker, told the Global Times Tuesday that she planned to buy 150 grams of gold bars, banking on the precious metal as a safe investment.

But she said she would buy it in several batches, as gold prices could keep falling.

Like individual buyers, institutional investors are also showing a more cautious attitude toward investment in gold products.

"The transaction volume in our gold trading center declined recently, as institutional investors believe the price of this metal may fall further in the future," Wang Wei, an analyst at Guangzhou-based Zhenhao Wealth Gold Trading Center, told the Global Times Tuesday.

Wang said some individual Chinese investors had been too hasty in investing in gold products, and they risk making further losses.

Wang said the dramatic gold price decline in November was mainly due to the recovery of the US economy.

The Markit US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, a key indicator for economic performance, climbed to 54.7 in November, up from 51.8 in October, economic data provider Markit said Monday.

Both Jiao and Wang said international gold prices will decline further, as the recovery trend in the US economy will continue.