Precious Metal

The Gold Market’s Great Migration Sends Bullion Rushing East

Western investors are dumping gold in response to rising rates.

A gold store in the Dubai Gold Souk in Deira.

Photographer: Yui Mok/PA Images

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There’s a global migration underway in the gold market, as western investors dump bullion while Asian buyers take advantage of a tumbling price to snap up cheap jewelry and bars.

Rising rates that make gold less attractive as an investment mean that large volumes of metal are being drawn out of vaults in financial centers like New York and heading east to meet demand in Shanghai’s gold market or Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.