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| gettyimagesbank |
By Anna J. Park
With the price of gold peaking at its highest level in Korea, sales of gold bars at major local banks exceeded 2.49 billion won ($1.89 million) during the four days from last Monday to last Thursday.
According to the local banking industry, the aggregate amount of gold bars sold at four major banks ― KB Kookmin, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup ― from April 3 to 6 stood at 2.49 billion won. It is more than 63 percent of gold bar sales at the banks during the entire month of March when gold bars amounting to 3.95 billion won were sold.
The monthly sales of gold bars at the four major banks have been on a consistent rise this year, from 1.98 billion won in January, 3.29 billion won in February and 3.95 billion won in March. The surge in gold bar purchases at banks reflects local investors' increased preference for safe assets amid the jitters of global financial markets.
The price of the precious metal ended at a record high of 86,330 won per gram on Friday at the gold market of the state-run Korea Exchange (KRX). The gold price at the KRX's gold market rewrote its all-time highs, since the market's launch in 2014, for three consecutive sessions during the past week. The gold price rose by 16 percent this year alone, as the price of gold started at 74,360 won per gram at the start of this year.
Besides the purchase of actual gold bars, investor money is flocking into various gold investment products. Over 3.5 billion won has been invested in K bank's gold investment service, which partners with CENGold, Korea Gold Exchange's digital platform for fractional investment for gold and silver. The number of transactions for gold investment also rose to about 2,400 in March, which is more than double that of the previous month.
The amount of money deposited at local gold banking accounts at KB Kookmin, Shinhan and Woori Banks also rose to 529.8 billion won this month from 516.8 billion won at the end of February. Various gold ETF products have also been attracting influxes of money as investors look for safe investments.
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