China Gold Protests Expose Darker Side of Scorching Metals Rally

Protests outside the premises of a small gold retailer and trader have laid bare the extent of disruption caused by speculative buying across China that is powering a record-breaking metals rally.

Unprecedented inflows to China’s bullion-backed exchange-traded funds reveal an insatiable appetite for gold, a frenzy that has also propelled global prices for silver and copper to all-time highs. But when hundreds of customers arrived at premises in the country’s biggest bullion hub to ask for their money and metal, chaotic scenes ensued.