Gold market in April 2026

Gold slipped 2.3% in April after a record-breaking first quarter.

Gold opened the month at SGD 194.62/g and closed at SGD 190.19/g — a -2.28% move. The monthly range ran from SGD 187.55/g to SGD 196.69/g (USD 4561.72/oz to USD 4784.05/oz on the international market).

Three drivers

A breather after a historic run — Gold entered April fresh off a quarterly average of USD 4,873/oz — the highest ever recorded for a single quarter. After a price that strong, some cooling is normal: buyers who rushed in earlier sit back, and profit-taking nudges the price lower. In Singapore dollars, gold moved from SGD 194.63/g at the open to SGD 190.19/g by month's end, a drop of about SGD 4.44/g across the month.

Asian savers kept buying bars and coins — Even as the headline price dipped, the World Gold Council reported that Q1 2026 bar and coin demand hit 474 tonnes globally — the second-highest quarter ever recorded — with Asian retail investors leading the way. That kind of physical buying creates a floor: when prices pull back, everyday savers and investors in markets like China, India, and Southeast Asia tend to step in rather than step away. It's one reason April's low of SGD 187.56/g didn't fall further.

Central banks quietly added 244 tonnes — In Q1 2026, the world's central banks bought a net 244 tonnes of gold — 3% more than the same period last year — despite a noticeable uptick in selling from some nations. Central banks accumulate gold to reduce their dependence on any single currency, and sustained buying at this pace signals that large institutional holders see gold as a long-term reserve asset worth adding to even at record prices. That steady baseline of demand sat underneath April's market movement.

Did you know? — Quarterly average gold price

When the World Gold Council says the Q1 2026 quarterly average was USD 4,873/oz, they mean the average of every daily closing price across the three months — not the high, not the low, just the middle ground of where gold actually traded day to day. It matters because big buyers like central banks and jewellery manufacturers plan their purchases around averages, not peaks. A record quarterly average means gold was consistently expensive throughout the period, not just briefly. For everyday savers, it's a useful reminder that the dramatic single-day headlines tell only part of the story — the steady accumulation of daily prices is what shapes the real cost of gold over time.

Things worth knowing

Why jewellery demand fell while spending rose — Global gold jewellery demand dropped 23% by volume in Q1 2026, yet spending on jewellery rose 31% over the same period. The mechanism is straightforward: when gold prices are high, buyers purchase fewer grams but still spend — they're choosing lighter pieces or smaller items rather than skipping the purchase entirely. It's a pattern that shows up whenever gold sustains a price rally, and it separates volume trends from sentiment trends.

AI infrastructure is moving the technology number — Gold used in technology edged 1% higher to 82 tonnes in Q1 2026, with the World Gold Council attributing the growth largely to AI infrastructure buildout. Gold is used in high-reliability electrical connectors and contacts inside the servers and chips that power AI data centres — its conductivity and corrosion resistance make it difficult to substitute. As AI hardware investment continues to grow, this corner of gold demand has become a more visible line item than it was five years ago.

Record demand value, modest volume growth — Total Q1 2026 gold demand grew only 2% in tonnes year-on-year, but the value of that demand jumped 74% to a record USD 193 billion. The gap between those two numbers is entirely explained by price: the same weight of gold simply costs far more than it did a year ago. It's a useful reminder that headline demand figures in tonnes and headline demand figures in dollars can tell very different stories about the same market.