Spot gold rose 0.4% to $4,740.90 per ounce on Friday and traded steady into the Sunday Asia session, supported by a softer U.S. dollar index of 98.51 and easing 10-year Treasury yields. The yellow metal has now gained 9.4% in April and is up 51% year-on-year, on pace for the strongest 12-month performance since the late-1970s inflation cycle.
World Gold Council data published Friday showed central banks bought a record 312 metric tons of bullion during Q1 2026 — a 28% jump versus the year-ago quarter. China's People's Bank of China added 38 tons, Poland's NBP added 26 tons and the Reserve Bank of India added 22 tons. Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Hungary together accounted for an additional 41 tons. The pace, if sustained, would push 2026 official-sector buying past 1,200 tons, the most ever recorded in WGC data going back to 1970.
ETF Demand Returns
After two years of mixed flows, physical gold ETFs are now seeing structural demand again. The SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) attracted $4.7 billion of net inflows in April, the heaviest pace since the COVID shock of March 2020. Total physically backed gold ETF holdings rose to a record 3,612 metric tons, up 8.4% year-to-date. iShares Gold Trust (IAU) and abrdn Physical Gold Shares (SGOL) saw inflows of $1.9 billion and $0.8 billion respectively in the same period.
Silver outperformed bullion, gaining 6.1% during the week to $46.20 per ounce, a level last seen in 1980. The