SINGAPORE – People were lining up to buy gold in Singapore on Thursday (Feb 2) despite plummeting prices, demonstrating the extraordinary resilience of retail demand for the precious metal.
At the headquarters of UOB, Singapore’s only bank offering physical gold products to retail investors, customers and walk-in buyers, people were packed into a lounge dedicated to bullion trading.
“I came to buy gold today because the price of gold went down,” Ng Beng Chu said. The 70-something retiree said he arrived at 9:30 a.m. to get his ticket, but was still waiting to be called more than six hours later.
A long rally in precious metals heated up in January as the Trump administration upended the geopolitical order and renewed its attack on the Federal Reserve. This spike reversed on January 30th, when the stock crashed.
Continued on February 2nd
. At one point, gold prices fell by more than a fifth from their all-time highs reached last week.
However, rather than selling, many retail investors appear to be looking to buy on the bullshit, with gold falling to nearly US$4,400 an ounce on February 2, erasing almost all of its 2026 gains.
In central Sydney, a line of people snaked out onto the street from the ABC bullion store near Martin Place.
“We lost a lot of money” on Friday, but “tomorrow is a new day,” said Alex, a man in his 20s who declined to give his full name as he queued outside a Sydney store to buy bullion.
Retail buyers may be betting that the main drivers of gold’s rise are still intact: an increasingly unpredictable U.S. president and a down trade that has investors avoiding currencies and sovereign debt. This optimism is echoed by Deutsche Bank, which said in a February 2 note that it stands by its forecast for gold to reach US$6,000 an ounce in 2026.
At UOB in Singapore, many customers who did not pre-order were left disappointed. All products from MKS PAMP SA, one of the world’s most famous bullion brands, are sold out and late arrivals are out of luck.
According to a notice posted around UOB’s headquarters, “Due to overwhelming response, all outstanding tickets for the day have been issued.” “I appreciate your patience.” bloomberg