Chinese are buying gold due to lack of investment options

Beijing

EVEN as investors shed gold holdings almost everywhere else in the world, Chinese savers like Hu Jingjing are buying.

Stung by a US$5 trillion stock market collapse, an overbuilt property market and a devaluation of the yuan, Chinese investors are adding to bullion holdings that have already made them the world's largest consumers of the metal. A third straight annual decline in prices has failed to deter purchases, partly because there are few attractive alternatives for preserving assets.

"It's been a very tough year for investment because shares are so volatile and bank deposits are threatened by a weakening yuan," Mr Hu, a 36-year-old manager at a clothing retailer, said af…