Demand for gold in physical form has increased dramatically (similar to what we saw in 2008 at the beginning of the financial crisis) as investors move away from risk based investments and into wealth based and safe haven products (gold being the most popular of this category). This is most apparent with the increase we are seeing in US and European based buyers of gold here in NZ.
In currency, the NZD$ has dropped against the US throughout the week, only to pickup over a cent on trading last night. This is due to the Chinese reiterating their level in investments in Europe will not change, so fueling risk based appetite in the Asian markets. With the NZD/USD at around 0.68, gold is still lower in NZD than it was much of this week, despite a higher USD gold price with current spot rate around NZD$1920.
New Zealand Mint has had a busy May with total buy and sell dollar volumes more than double that of any other month this year.
