Gold prices hit highs during holiday

Gold prices extended gains over the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, with domestic jewelry costs climbing to record highs and bullion stocks rallying in stock exchange trading.

On Thursday, pure gold jewelry from leading brands such as Chow Sang Sang, Chow Tai Fook and Lao Feng Xiang sold for as much as 1,170 yuan ($164.25) per gram, up about 40 yuan from Oct 1 levels, according to an online news outlet of Chongqing Daily.

Lao Feng Xiang's price rose to 1,160 yuan per gram from 1,125 yuan, while Chow Tai Fook's hit 1,168 yuan from 1,129 yuan.

The surge in retail prices tracked international benchmarks. COMEX Gold Futures jumped 1.42 percent on Oct 8 to close at $4,060.6 an ounce, gaining 4.45 percent during the holiday, Cailian Press reported.

Gold-linked equities also soared. Sichuan Gold hit its daily limit in Shanghai, while Shandong Gold climbed more than 9 percent. Zhongjin Gold added over 8 percent, and Shandong Zhaojin Group and Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining advanced more than 6 percent. As of Wednesday, shares of Chifeng Jilong and Zijin Gold International had each climbed more than 20 percent since the start of the month.

Investors are betting the rally has room to run. JPMorgan Chase and Co, and UBS Group AG recently lifted their short-term price targets to $4,200 per ounce. Goldman Sachs projects bullion could reach $4,900 by December 2026, according to CCTV Finance.

Analysts remain broadly bullish on the yellow metal's outlook. Tan Yiming, chief fixed income analyst at Tianfeng Securities, wrote in a recent report that gold may still have room to rise through this year and next, supported by a weaker US dollar, continued safe-haven demand and sustained central bank buying. In the event of prolonged high inflation in the US — a less likely scenario, he said, quoted by Cailian Press — gold's role as an inflation hedge could further underpin prices.

Orient Securities added that structural drivers such as US government debt risks and the long-term trend of de-dollarization continue to underpin a gold bull market. The firm said that concerns over the Federal Reserve's policy independence may add to upward momentum, especially when coupled with moves in other asset classes.

So far this year, gold has extended its upward climb. Jia Shuchang, head of China research at the World Gold Council, told the Economic Information Daily that dollar-denominated gold prices surged 47 percent in the first nine months, driven by escalating geopolitical risks, uncertainty over tariff policies, a weaker greenback, growing expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts and robust inflows into global gold exchange-traded funds.