The Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) yesterday said that its gold price reached a record-high NT$3,518 (US$108.14) per gram at noon as the trade war between the US and China raged on.
The state-run bank said its intraday gold passbook price has increased 25.6 percent since the start of the year, when the price stood at NT$2,801 per gram.
The sharp rise in the price was driven by an influx of capital into gold markets amid escalating tariffs between the US and China, the bank said in its international gold market report.
Photo: EPA-EFE
A sharp decline in the US Dollar Index has also triggered capital flows into gold markets, pushing prices higher, the bank said.
Gold’s appeal has further increased, as the precious metal is less affected by tariffs, the bank said, citing analyses by asset management firms.
Bullion yesterday rose as much as 0.4 percent to US$3,357.78 an ounce in Singapore, before paring gains. The metal added 3.5 percent on Wednesday in its biggest one-day gain since March 2023, as the US dollar fell to a fresh six-month low. The precious metal has climbed almost 28 percent this year, outpacing the 27 percent gain it notched last year.
“The big theme is uncertainty,” which is benefiting gold, ABC Refinery (Australia) Pty Ltd global head of institutional markets Nicholas Frappell said. “Uncertainty about the scale and breadth of tariffs, uncertainty over the strategic plan of the US administration and the degree to which America’s trade partners will respond.”
The UBS Wealth Management Chief Investment Office in a report this week said it has raised its 12-month price target for gold to US$3,500 per ounce, citing concerns over tariffs, inflation, geopolitical risks and shifting interest rate expectations.
UBS said demand for gold was also being driven by structural changes in allocation, including a February decision by Chinese regulators allowing insurance funds to invest in gold, and systematic reserve increases by central banks in various countries.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS