Hundreds of gold-hungry Australians have been queuing for hours outside ABC Bullion in central Sydney, driven by a record-breaking gold price surge that has seen the precious metal climb from US$4,200 to over US$4,300 an ounce in just three days. The store's general manager, Jordan Eliseo, reports that about 1,000 people have been visiting daily for over a month, with thousands more buying online, prompting extended trading hours and five extra staff hires.
Investors are trading out of shares and currencies into gold, citing global uncertainty, political intervention in the US economy, and unstable governments. The Royal Bank of Canada has upgraded its gold price forecast to potentially US$5,000 by early 2026. However, analysts warn of a correction, noting that the price plummeted over 6% on Wednesday to US$4,107—its steepest fall since 2013.
One investor, Avtar, withdrew $78,000 from his retirement savings to buy gold in April, which is now worth nearly $112,000. Despite his gains, he fears the rally is unsustainable and queued to buy silver instead. Another shopper, Prakas, who buys gold annually for Diwali, was turned away by a 400-person queue and later faced a two-hour online queue.
AMP's chief economist Shane Oliver has warned for two weeks that the queues signal speculative market behaviour vulnerable to a correction. Eliseo describes the phenomenon as a 'gold rush,' with customers reading news and deciding they want gold, though some are selling rather than buying.
