Seasonality of Gold Prices

Many don’t realise there is a reasonably predictable pattern to the gold price within each calendar year.  The graph below shows gold price gains per month over the last 30 years.  There are a number of factors that influence this.  Over half of all gold produced is used in jewellery and after the northern hemisphere summer vacation the price starts to rise as demand for jewellery ramps up for the harvest and wedding festivals beginning in September in India (until last year the world's largest consumer of gold). This is followed by festive season holidays in the United States and then Chinese New Year, with China now the largest consumer in the world.  We are now at about that sweet spot where prices historically start to rise in earnest.