Central banks add 321 tonnes of gold in a quarter as retail buyers step back
Central banks bought a net 321 tonnes of gold in the third quarter of 2026, 42 percent more than a year earlier and the strongest quarterly total since the final three months of 2024, the World Gold Council said in its Gold Demand Trends report. Official purchases reached 675 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, about 6 percent above the same period in 2025, with the council attributing the buying to portfolio diversification and risk management rather than price speculation.
Institutions moved in the same direction. Physically backed gold ETFs took in 211 tonnes in the quarter, reversing the outflows of the previous three months, though the inflow was 6 percent below the strong third quarter of 2025. Total ETF holdings nonetheless reached an all-time high of 4,256 tonnes. Over-the-counter and other demand rose to 143 tonnes from 101 tonnes a year earlier, a category the council says captures less visible investment activity and is estimated rather than measured directly.
Private buyers were not persuaded. Demand for gold bars and coins fell 19 percent year-on-year to 268 tonnes as investors waited for clearer signals on prices, with China the exception at a 7 percent increase. Jewellery volumes dropped 17 percent to 313 tonnes, the weakest third quarter in the council's data series, as consumers chose lighter and lower-carat pieces; the value of jewellery demand still edged up to about $43 billion.
Total demand slipped 1 percent to 1,369 tonnes, but its value climbed 22 percent to $188 billion with gold averaging $4,262 an ounce. Technology demand rose 3 percent to 85 tonnes, the highest quarterly level since late 2021, helped by manufacturing tied to artificial intelligence. Mine output rose 3 percent to a third-quarter record of 1,071 tonnes, while recycling fell 8 percent to 314 tonnes, leaving total supply 1 percent lower.
Louise Street, senior markets analyst at the World Gold Council, described a quarter of contrasting trends and said the outlook was finely balanced: rising interest rates and mixed inflation expectations could weigh on gold, while geopolitical uncertainty and concerns about financial market stress could keep drawing investors in. Whether institutions keep buying at current prices, and whether smaller buyers return, is the question the fourth quarter will answer.
What it means for Pakistan: Pakistan is a price-sensitive gold market, where household savings sit in jewellery and bars and purchases track the rupee rate as much as the international price. The council's finding that buyers cut volumes but kept spending as prices rose fits that pattern, and the State Bank of Pakistan, like other central banks, holds gold in its reserves, so the pace of official-sector buying abroad is a benchmark for how monetary authorities are treating the metal. Any sustained rise in international prices feeds straight into local rates and into the cost of imported gold.
