Young Japanese retail investors are turning to gold purchasing plans at an unprecedented rate as they seek to protect their finances amid a deepening recession, an official at the nation’s largest bullion retailer said.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Noriyuki Abe, an executive at the precious metals division of Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo KK.
The company has signed up more than 4,000 customers a month for its gold accumulation plan since October. Previously “the tally wouldn’t exceed 1,000,” he said in an interview.
Financial turmoil has boosted bullion demand worldwide, increasing sales of Austrian Philharmonic gold coins and driving holdings to all-time highs in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by the metal. Rising interest in long-term investment plans by customers in Japan aged from 20 to 40 “stood out,” Abe said.
“A slow-and-steady approach to investing is in line with the values of Japanese young people, who emphasize stability in their lives,” said Koichiro Kamei, managing director of Tokyo-based Market Strategy Institute Inc.
Tanaka Kikinzoku’s gold accumulation program, which started in 1988, allows customers to have as little as ¥3,000 (US$31) a month debited from their bank accounts, with many choosing deductions of ¥10,000.
The amount is set in advance, evening out the investment risk over time. The gold is stored by the company on behalf of the investors.
The number of deposits gained by 60,000 in the past year to about 350,000, Tanaka Kikinzoku said.
Almost 40 percent of customers are in their twenties and thirties compared with “extremely low” levels about three years ago, Abe said yesterday.
Viewed by some investors as a haven when asset values drop, gold prices rose to an 11-month high of US$1,006.29 an ounce on Feb. 20 as the global economic slump deepened.
Mitsubishi Materials Corp, Japan’s third-largest copper producer and a bullion dealer, has opened 33 percent more personal gold accumulation accounts in the half-year since September, said Kouichi Saito, a bullion trading group manager.
“We didn’t think we would see such an increase in accounts because we had assumed that the market was saturated, with those 50 or older being the main customers interested,” Saito said.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
RSS