UAE leads Middle East for investments in the precious metal in the second quarter, World Gold Council says.

Central banks bought a record 289 tonnes of gold in the second quarter, a 74 per cent annual increase, as geopolitical uncertainty strengthened the case for bullion as a reserve asset, the World Gold Council said.

That was also a more than five-fold increase from the first quarter’s revised total of 57 tonnes, the London-based council added.

The National Bank of Poland was the biggest buyer, adding 51 tonnes to bring its gold reserves to 632 tonnes at the end of June, followed by the People’s Bank of China, which bought 33 tonnes — its biggest quarterly addition since the fourth quarter of 2023 — to lift its holdings to 2,346 tonnes.

Other notable purchases were made by the central banks of Uzbekistan (16 tonnes), Kazakhstan (15 tonnes), Jordan (six tonnes) and the Czech Republic (six tonnes).

Regulators remain confident that gold is maintaining its “strategic case” as it enables the diversification of their reserves , which in turn protect against uncertainties in geopolitics and financial markets, analysts at the WGC said.

“Gold’s role as a long-term store of value continues to feature prominently in central bank thinking … the wider geopolitical backdrop, as well as softer gold prices, are likely to have provided some support for the increased second-quarter buying,” they said.

“With ongoing heightened uncertainty and a long-standing desire for reserve diversification, this likely helped sustain central bank appetite.”

For the first half of the year, however, net purchases were down to 345 tonnes, the lowest in four years, with the central banks of Turkey, Russia and Azerbaijan leading the sell-offs, the report said.