Business & Economics
Gold Breaches $5,100/Oz, Triggering Worldwide Coin Liquidations and Reserve Jitters
Between 27–28 Jan 2026, spot gold punched through the $5,100 mark—doubling in two years—and immediately set off a wave of retail coin selling in Greece, record local-currency highs from Dhaka to Colombo, and fresh political pressure on Germany to pull 1,200 t of bullion out of the Fed’s vaults.
Focusing Facts
- The Bank of Greece reports 60 % of 2025’s 150,000 gold-sovereign transactions were sales, with the coin’s price up 70.8 % to €1,138.33.
- China’s PBoC logged 14 consecutive months of purchases, lifting official holdings to 2,304 t (8.5 % of reserves) by Dec 2025.
- Sri Lanka’s 24-carat sovereign jumped to Rs 405,000 on 28 Jan, a one-day rise of Rs 10,000.
Context
Gold last eclipsed a prior inflation-adjusted peak in January 1980 when the metal spiked to $850 amid the Iran crisis and double-digit US CPI; the 2026 breakout is larger in scale but rhymes with that panic-driven rush. The move reflects decades-long structural forces—ballooning sovereign debt, weaponisation of reserve currencies post-2014 sanctions, and the erosion of real yields—that are gradually eroding trust in fiat systems created at Bretton Woods (1944). Central banks buying since 2022 resembles the 1965–68 ‘London Gold Pool’ unwind, yet today’s opaque reporting and momentum-fuelled ETF flows raise the risk of a 2013-style bull-trap correction. Whether this marks a secular shift away from the dollar or merely the apex of a fear cycle will shape capital flows, reserve management, and monetary sovereignty well into the 22nd century.
Perspectives
Mainstream business & investing outlets
Bloomberg Business, Economic Times, Investing.com — Portray gold’s record run as a logical flight-to-safety and predict it could climb toward $6,000–$10,000 if rate cuts and geopolitical stress persist. Reliance on brokerage research and fund-manager quotes means upbeat headlines may stoke fear-driven demand that benefits the very market actors providing the commentary.
Skeptical Anglo-American financial press
Financial Times, TheJournal.ie — Contends the rally is momentum-led, notes scant hard data on continued central-bank buying and reminds readers that gold can swing violently. Serving audiences rooted in conventional equity/bond markets, the coverage may reflexively minimise gold’s merits to defend standard investment orthodoxies.
Local emerging-market media
DhakaTribune, Ada Derana — Focus on how soaring bullion prices signal public anxiety over weak currencies and inflation, while making jewellery unaffordable for households. By stressing consumer pain and policy failings, the reports may magnify domestic grievances and underplay the broader global forces behind the price spike.