By SHIMPEI DOI/ Staff Writer
August 30, 2023 at 18:07 JST
Gold bullion at the Ginza Tanaka store in Tokyo (Shimpei Doi)
The retail selling price of gold topped 10,000 yen ($68) per gram in Japan for the first time as investors continued buying the “safe asset” amid uncertainties over the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The price hit 10,001 yen including tax on Aug. 29, according to leading bullion dealer Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo.
Gold prices have shot up about 70 percent over the past three and a half years from under 5,900 yen in January 2020, before the full-blown novel coronavirus pandemic started.
Investors shifted their assets from stocks and bonds to gold, considered a safe haven in turbulent times, out of fears the global economy would take a hit from anti-virus restrictions on corporate activities and the flow of people.
In about six months, the retail selling price rose above 7,000 yen, according to figures from Tanaka Kikinzoku.
Investors again turned to gold after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, which sparked concerns about unstable crude oil and wheat supplies.
In about two months, the retail selling price approached 9,000 yen.
The weakening yen has also pushed up gold prices in Japan.
In foreign exchange trading in New York on Aug. 28, the Japanese currency tumbled to 146.75 yen against the dollar, the lowest level in more than nine months, a few days after Fed Chairman Jay Powell signaled a further interest hike in a speech in Jackson Hole in the U.S. state of Wyoming.
“Divisions have deepened between the United States and China, and the war in Ukraine is continuing,” said Satoru Yoshida of Rakuten Securities Co. “Against the backdrop of the yen’s depreciation, the domestic gold price could exceed 11,000 yen.”
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