S. Korea's gold market trading volume tops 20 tons this year

SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- The trading volume of South Korea's gold market has rocketed from a year ago to surpass 20 tons this year on strong demand due to coronavirus-caused economic uncertainty, the local exchange said Wednesday.

The cumulative trading volume of the yellow metal came to 20,010 kilograms as of Tuesday, 2.5 times more than the amount during the same period a year earlier, according to the Korea Exchange (KRX).

This year's cumulative turnover stood at 1.38 trillion won (US$1.2 billion), treble the figure for the same period last year.

The number of gold trading accounts totaled 404,393 as of the end of August, a 2.2 times increase from the end of last year.

The exchange said global economic uncertainty, combined with low trading costs and various tax breaks, has highlighted the importance of safe-haven assets this year.

Gold prices have remained high globally this year amid low interest rates and strong investor appetite for assets in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

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