Gold Rebounds as Central Banks Keep Buying — and Singapore's Vaults Fill Up
Key Takeaways
- Gold settled around US$4,057/oz on 31 July, on track for its first monthly gain in five months — still roughly 28% off January's record high.
- Central banks bought an estimated 244 tonnes in Q1 2026, and a record 45% of them say they plan to add more over the next year.
- Right here in Singapore, Silver Bullion is quintupling its gold storage capacity, and the authorities want to vault gold for foreign central banks.
Where Prices Actually Stand
Let's start with the number everyone asks me about. Gold closed 31 July near US$4,057 an ounce, after briefly poking above US$4,110 the day before. That leaves it on course for its first monthly gain in five months — modest, but the direction matters after a long, grinding stretch.
Context helps here. Back in January, gold hit an all-time high of US$5,595 before rolling over hard. So even with July's bounce, we're still sitting about 28% below that peak. If you've been feeling whipsawed this year, you're not imagining it. Silver was even wilder — it spiked to a record US$121.74 in late January and then gave most of it back within weeks.
| Metal | Late-Jan 2026 peak | End of July 2026 | Off the high |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | US$5,595/oz | ~US$4,057/oz | ~28% |
| Silver | US$121.74/oz | corrected sharply | well below |
The near-term driver is the same old tug-of-war: a hawkish-sounding Fed on one side, and Middle East tensions plus inflation worries on the other. If you want the longer view on what's been driving gold prices this year, I wrote about that earlier this year.
Why Central Banks Won't Stop Buying
Here's the bit that doesn't make daily headlines but probably matters most. Central banks are still buying, and not casually. Estimated net purchases hit 244 tonnes in the first quarter alone, ahead of the five-year average, and the full-year forecast sits in the 700–900 tonne range.
The World Gold Council ran its annual reserves survey and the results were blunt: a record 45% of central banks plan to increase their gold holdings over the next 12 months, and 90% pointed to gold's performance during a crisis as a key reason. For the first time, gold has reportedly overtaken US Treasuries as the world's largest reserve asset. China's central bank, for its part, logged its 20th straight month of buying in June.
When the biggest, least emotional buyers on the planet keep adding on every dip, that tells you something about the floor under this market.
Singapore Is Quietly Building the Vaults
This is where it gets close to home. Local dealers aren't just talking — they're pouring concrete. Silver Bullion is quintupling its gold storage capacity to 2,500 tonnes by adding 22 new vaults at its Changi South facility. Others have been building buffer stocks of the bread-and-butter items like 100g bars and 1oz coins to ride out supply delays.
At the policy level, the authorities and the industry association announced back in March that they want Singapore to offer vaulting services to foreign central banks and sovereign entities. That's a serious ambition, and it's a vote of confidence in the whole ecosystem — the same ecosystem you and I buy our gold bars and coins through. If you'd rather not keep metal at home, this is exactly why allocated storage with an operator like BullionStar has become such a normal part of the conversation here.
What This Means If You Buy Here
Honestly? Not much changes about the fundamentals. Singapore's GST exemption on investment precious metals still makes buying physical bullion here cleaner than most places. The price swings are noise; the central-bank buying and the vault build-out are the signal. And both of those point the same way.