China, Singapore vie to fix gold price in Asia

Singapore: China and Singapore are vying to provide feasible gold price benchmarks in Asia, as calls grow in the top consuming region for more localised pricing of the precious metal at a time when the global benchmark is under regulatory scrutiny.

Singapore said at an industry conference on Wednesday that it would launch a physical gold contract on an exchange to create a transparent form of pricing.

China, at the same conference, said that it wanted to have a bigger influence on the global gold market and would like to have its own price ‘fix’. The moves underscore rising pressure from Asia, home to the top two gold consumers — China and India — to have pricing references that better reflect the region’s market dynamics, and the growing disenchantment with prices set in the West.

The London fix, the global benchmark for spot gold prices that is determined by a group of four banks over a teleconference, is being investigated by regulators in Europe and the US under suspicion it may have been manipulated.

“Why should a country that is importing gold use a benchmark in London or the United States? Why can’t they have their own benchmark?” Jeremy East, global head of metals trading at Standard Chartered, said at the conference.