Bucking global trend, S Koreans pile into gold

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 wanting 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 one trillion won (S$1.19 billion) 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.