Mr. Shaokai Fan: Gold cannot be compared with stocks and real estate.

Gold is proving to be less attractive than other investment channels such as stocks and real estate in the race for price increases. However, speaking to Dau Tu Online Newspaper, a representative of the World Gold Council said that gold's position is irreplaceable.

According to the World Gold Council, gold demand in Vietnam in the second quarter of 2025 decreased by 20% compared to the same period last year, contrary to the general trend of the world (up 3%). The reason for the decrease in gold demand in Vietnam is due to the devaluation of the domestic currency along with the high USD price, causing domestic gold prices to skyrocket to a record level, causing barriers to people's ability to pay.

In addition to the high price of gold, many people believe that one of the reasons why gold has cooled down recently is because the price of gold has increased slowly, while stocks and real estate prices have increased rapidly. This makes gold a less attractive investment channel in the second quarter.

Mr. Shaokai Fan, Regional Director for Asia- Pacific (excluding China) and Global Director of Central Banks at the World Gold Council.

Answering the question of Investment Electronic Newspaper - Baodautu.vn - on August 7, Mr. Shaokai Fan, Director of Asia - Pacific region (excluding China) and Director of Global Central Bank at the World Gold Council said that it is true that there are many investment channels, many different types of assets and each investment channel, each type of asset has different characteristics. Gold is a very special asset that any investor must pay attention to when managing their investment portfolio.

According to Mr. Shaokai Fan, gold cannot be compared with other investment channels because the nature of gold is very different from investment channels in stocks, real estate, etc. Specifically, gold has defensive and risk-absorbing properties, increasing the resilience of the portfolio. This is a property that other investment channels and assets do not have, and this property creates the irreplaceable characteristic of gold.

In fact, in the context of an increasingly unpredictable world with many unstable factors, gold is becoming a safe defensive asset chosen by many investors and large markets around the world, including central banks.

A survey by the World Gold Council shows that most central banks around the world still plan to increase purchases, both to diversify their foreign exchange reserve portfolios and to hedge against increasing political risks.

"We see that in the past 5 years, many major risks have occurred globally: Covid-19, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the trade war... In times of great risk, gold is an asset that helps investors overcome the crisis. This is also the reason why central banks and large investors around the world continuously add gold to their investment portfolios. Vietnam is an export-oriented economy, in the context of the current complicated trade war, investors also need to pay attention to gold to increase the resilience of their portfolios," said Mr. Shaokai Fan.

In Vietnam, gold demand decreased by 20% in volume, but the value still increased by 12% in value in the second quarter of 2025, showing that people's desire to buy is still very large. The Government is currently amending Decree 24/2012/ND-CP on the gold market in the direction of removing the monopoly and increasing the gold import limit. This expert believes that loosening gold imports will bring many benefits to the market.

Commenting on the gold price in the coming time, Mr. Shaokai Fan said that gold prices are still benefiting from the large buying demand from central banks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In addition, trade tensions have not yet ended, especially as the world awaits the final results of the tax negotiations between the US and China. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) is under great pressure to cut interest rates, which also supports gold prices.

The World Gold Council report shows that global gold demand continues to increase in the second quarter of 2025. Investment in gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) remains the main driver of total demand, with inflows of 170 tonnes in the quarter, in contrast to small outflows in the second quarter of 2024. Asian-listed funds contributed significantly at 70 tonnes, on par with US funds.

Combined with record inflows in the first quarter, total gold demand from global gold ETFs reached 397 tonnes - the highest first-half level since 2020.

Central banks continued to buy gold, albeit at a slower pace, adding 166 tonnes in Q2. Despite this slowdown, central bank purchases remain significantly high due to persistent economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

The World Gold Council's annual survey of central banks shows that 95% of reserve managers believe that global central bank gold reserves will increase over the next 12 months.

Mr. Shaokai Fan commented: "Investment in gold remains high due to the demand for safe-haven assets and the increase in capital flows into the market."

Source: https://baodautu.vn/ong-shaokai-fan-khong-the-so-sanh-vang-voi-chung-khoan-bat-dong-san-d352849.html