S. Koreans set to buy record amount of gold

Gold rush: A 1kg gold bar on display at the Korea Gold Exchange in Seoul. South Koreans are estimated to hold 800 tonnes in households and private vaults. – Reuters

SEOUL: South Koreans are on course to buy a record amount of gold in 2015, worried that a meltdown in China's stock markets will destabilise South Korean equities and keen to replenish a traditional store of value in an era of low interest rates.

In contrast to the weak demand in top gold buyers China and India, South Koreans are on target to buy 1 trillion won (US$860mil) in bullion for the first time this year, based on first-half sales through Korea Gold Exchange 3M Co Ltd, the country's largest gold merchant.