Asian
investors signal gold rush ahead By Blanchard Investing
News | August 2, 2010
Potential bullion buyers polled cite wealth
protection, profit potential
Asian investors are more likely to buy gold in the next
six months than their North American and European counterparts,
a global survey found.
Research company Ipsos said a quarter of
the 18,594 investors interviewed for its inaugural monthly
survey said they were "somewhat or very likely"
to invest in gold as a security or physical metal as opposed
to jewelry in the next six months.
Among investors who said they would buy
gold in the next six months, 47 percent said they would
invest gold to protect their wealth, and 53 percent said
they intended to profit from gold investments.
"When you have half of the people deciding
to put forward their gold as speculation, and the other
half deciding to put it in a defensive position, maybe that
is just mirroring what's going on out there," said
John Wright, Ipsos' senior vice president.
Meanwhile, at least one dealer in Asia reported
strong buying patterns on Friday, before the U.S. released
its grim GDP report.
"The market is very hot. There's plenty
of physical demand and I can't meet the orders. It's from
India, Indonesia and Thailand," said a physical dealer
in Singapore. "Basically we are seeing buying from
jewelers and investors from the Far East."
Asian buying will offer great support for
gold prices, given the burgeoning populations of that region
as well as the growing wealth in countries such as India
and China, whose peoples are the world's largest gold consumers.