The morning briefing from Chapman Gold: what moved the gold market and why it matters. Prices in the banner above are live.
Gold keeps climbing after a weak American jobs report
The December gold contract opened Friday at $4,298.30 a troy ounce, level with Thursday's close, and was quoted at $4,411.70 by 8:45 a.m. New York time. The move followed a July payrolls figure showing 23,000 jobs lost against the 80,000 gain economists had expected, a miss that pushes the case for a Federal Reserve cut rather than a rise. (Yahoo Finance)
Gold is up 27 per cent on the year
Friday's levels put gold ahead 4.8 per cent on the week and 4.2 per cent on the month, and 27 per cent higher than a year ago. The metal is back at prices last seen in mid June, having spent the early summer drifting. (Yahoo Finance)
China buys for a twenty first straight month
The People's Bank of China added roughly 20 tonnes of gold to its reserves in July, the twenty first consecutive month of buying and the largest single monthly addition since October 2023. It follows about 15 tonnes added in June, so the pace is quickening rather than easing. (Bloomberg)
Poland still leads the official buyers
Across all central banks, Poland has taken on 64 tonnes so far this year, ahead of Uzbekistan at 33 tonnes and China at 25 tonnes, with Kazakhstan also a steady monthly buyer and Singapore returning to the buy side for the first time since September 2025. Turkey and Russia have been the notable sellers, at 81 and 34 tonnes year to date. (World Gold Council)
Exchange traded funds turn buyer again, led by London
Gold backed funds took in about $3 billion in July, ending a two month run of outflows, with European funds leading and the United Kingdom alone accounting for $875 million ahead of Switzerland at $657 million. Total holdings rose 23 tonnes to 4,068 tonnes, still short of the record 4,176 tonnes set on 27 February. (World Gold Council)
India's imports set to fall as duty bites
Indian gold imports are forecast to drop to around 400 tonnes this year after import duty rose from 6 per cent to 15 per cent and the government moved to conserve foreign exchange. Second quarter demand fell 6 per cent year on year to 131 tonnes, yet the amount spent on gold hit a second quarter record of 1,979 billion rupees, about $21 billion, which tells you the price has done the work the tonnage did not. (World Gold Council)
Sources: Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, World Gold Council. Compiled Saturday 8 August 2026. Nothing here is investment advice; it is the news, read with a jeweller's eye. For what the market means in real terms, see The Gold Price, where the world is priced in gold.