Gold prices hit a fresh all-time high of $3,720.40 per ounce in Asian Sunday electronic trading, up 1.8% from Friday's New York close of $3,640. The move pushed the yellow metal's year-to-date return to 31% and confirmed gold's standing as the best-performing major asset class of 2026 ahead of Bitcoin's 28%, the Nasdaq 100's 18% and the S&P 500's 14%.
Two catalysts drove the weekend surge. The Saturday Saudi-Russia joint statement signaling a 1.4 million barrel OPEC+ output cut threatened the disinflation narrative just as the Federal Reserve approaches its June rate decision, and a confirmed Bloomberg report Saturday afternoon revealed Beijing and Washington have quietly agreed a framework allowing select Chinese energy and rare-earth purchases to be settled in renminbi rather than dollars.
Central Bank Demand at All-Time Highs
CFTC data released Friday confirmed that central banks held a record 4,180 metric tonnes of gold in their official reserves at the end of Q1, with net purchases of 340 tonnes during the quarter. China's People's Bank of China added 22 tonnes in March alone, while Poland, India, Turkey and Saudi Arabia each disclosed multi-tonne acquisitions for the first time since 2024.
The dollar share of global central bank reserves fell to 56.4% at end-Q1, an all-time low, while the gold share rose to 21.8%, the highest since 1989. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America both raised their year-end 2026 gold forecasts to $4,000 over the weekend, citing what BofA strategist Michael Widmer called "the early innings of a structural reserve diversification."