South Asian women might be the winners of the gold rush

Yahoo

a day ago

Every piece of gold that Farzana Ghani owns holds a memory.
She has intricate jewelry sets from her mother-in-law from her wedding in Pakistan; a gold chain gifted from her mother after she performed the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage; and gold coins to celebrate her daughter's birth.
And she will keep investing in gold, as prices for the metal reach record highs.
'Compared to bonds and compared to holding cash, I would still prefer to buy gold coins,' Ghani, 56, of Miami, Florida, said.
Brides in South Asia are famously decked out in the precious metal – necklaces, earrings, nose rings, hair pieces and amulets – that can be gifted or inherited. The collection often starts before they're even born, composed of inherited pieces and gifts to commemorate their birth, life milestones and religious holidays.
Gold has been known as the most reliable safe haven asset for millennia, but it is more than an investment for South Asian families. The tradition of daughters inheriting their mothers' gold spans across urban and rural India, regardless of socioeconomic class.
It is deeply sewn into the fabric of the region's culture, often quite literally, as many women inherit saris that are intricately embroidered with gold thread. They revere gold pieces as precious family heirlooms rather than a quick cash turnaround — and for women, it can be one of the few assets that belong solely to them.
Gold prices have skyrocketed 26% this year, after rising 27% in 2024. The metal hit a record high above $3,500 a troy ounce in April, spurred by US President Donald Trump's chaotic tariff agenda and his attacks on the Federal Reserve's leader. And the South Asian women who long invested most of their assets into gold are winning in this rally.
'Whatever I have, it's all gold,' one South Asian mother described to her viewers on TikTok, showing off a 24-carat necklace she received 28 years ago. 'When I bought this (necklace) right, those days, golds were very cheap. One gram was $12. Now it's $100.'
India was the second-largest market for gold jewelry in the world in 2023, only falling behind China, according to leading industry group World Gold Council. In 2021, India bought a whopping 611 tonnes of gold jewelry; in comparison, the next-biggest region, the Middle East, bought 241 tonnes.
Demand in India is driven by jewelry: The country has an expected 11 million to 13 million weddings a year, with bridal jewelry enjoying more than 50% of the gold market share, accordingly. South Asians make up approximately 10% of UK gold supplier Solomon Global's client base, and it had seen an uptick in the last year in women of South Asian origin buying gold, according to the company.
'Jewelry is something that has an auspicious place in people's lives, it can be very consumer oriented, but it is also a very good mechanism for saving and passing wealth from generation to generation,' Joseph Cavatoni, senior market strategist for the Americas at the World Gold Council, told CNN.
People in India don't view gold as a splurge according to Sachin Jain, India CEO of the World Gold Council. Instead, gold pieces are viewed as family assets that will only appreciate in value.
Gold jewelry also serves as a physical form of financial protection in a region where millions of people — particularly women — may not have access to bank accounts or other forms of organized investing. In India, less than 50% of women manage their finances independently, according to a March survey from YouGov.
Ghani grew up with that mindset. In Pakistan, her mother told her to set aside any pocket money and, once it's accumulated, buy 24-karat gold coins.
'We Eastern women are always known for having money on rainy days. We don't live for today and then forget about tomorrow,' Ghani said.
But in 2025, it's not just South Asian brides who are relying on gold investments. Trump's trade war has thrown the global trade status quo into disarray, and investors are looking to move their assets from more volatile paper currency. Gold posted its strongest quarterly return since 1986 during the first quarter of 2025, with demand for safe havens spilling into other metals like silver and platinum.
'Gold is a bastion of safety and value,' Joshua Barone, a wealth manager at investment firm Savvy Advisors, told CNN. Even with the occasional dip, the price of gold per troy ounce has soared more than 1,900% over the past 50 years, according to BullionByPost, the largest online gold dealer in the UK. Silver has risen 697% over the same time period.
Central banks in India and China have been buying bullion to boost their reserves. The Reserve Bank of India has increased its gold holdings by 35% in the last five years, according to Solomon Global.
South Asians have long been storing gold in their own homes. Conservative estimates say that 25,000 tons or more of gold are sitting in homes in India, Jain said.
But South Asians are not interested in selling off their gold just yet. Indians are holding on to their gold even with high prices, Jain said, despite the trend of increased sales when prices were relatively high historically.
'The Western markets tend to want to hold gold when things are really scary, market risk and uncertainty. But (South Asian) families, these generations, have held gold for a long time, because they see that gold grows with economic expansion and it links to the GDP,' Cavatoni said.
Instead, Jain noted that in the past year, Indian consumers are coming back into stores and converting their old jewelry into more contemporary designs. Young people still see the value in holding on to gold – but they want pieces they can wear every day rather than gigantic bridal sets that are sitting in bank lockers.
'I think the younger consumer wants to own, fall in love and use those pieces, make them part of their life,' Jain said.
When Ghani's daughter was getting married last December in Miami, she converted many of her gold coins and old jewelry sets into a modern collection for the bride, one that she can keep and pass on to her own children in the future. Other gold coins were set aside for Ghani's son.
'She wanted to wear artificial (jewelry),' Ghani sighed. 'But gold is the most decent, the most elegant. I told her, 'Do not wear anything else.''
CNN's John Towfighi contributed to this report.