LONDON, November 3 — Central banks bought a net 321 tonnes of gold in the third quarter of 2026, 42 percent more than a year earlier and the strongest quarterly total since the end of 2024, the World Gold Council said on Tuesday in its Gold Demand Trends report, as official buyers and investment funds carried demand even while households pulled back.
Source: World Gold Council
Total gold demand, including over-the-counter trading, was 1 percent lower than a year earlier at 1,369 tonnes in the quarter. But demand in the first nine months of the year, at 3,881 tonnes, virtually matched the 2025 record of 3,884 tonnes — and in money terms it set a record of US$566 billion (yaani about ₹53.6 lakh crore at roughly ₹94.66 to the dollar), because prices were so much higher.
Source: World Gold Council press release
Central bank purchases in the first nine months reached 675 tonnes, 6 percent above the same period last year, and the council said full-year buying is now likely to at least match 2025. Portfolio diversification and risk management remained the main drivers of official buying, it said. The quarterly estimate includes unreported activity: disclosed net purchases totalled only 120 tonnes, meaning roughly two-thirds of the estimated buying was not officially reported.
Among reported buyers, the People's Bank of China was the largest, adding 63 tonnes — more than half of its year-to-date total — followed by Poland with 40 tonnes and Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with 14 tonnes each. Russia posted the only sizeable reported reduction, at 19 tonnes, according to the council's data as reported by market coverage of the report.
Source: Bitcoin News Asia (WGC report coverage)
Funds came back, households held off
Physically backed gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) returned to inflows in a marked reversal from the second quarter, adding 211 tonnes in the quarter and lifting total holdings to a record 4,256 tonnes, the council said. Senior markets analyst Louise Street said geopolitical risk and concerns around fiscal discipline drove the institutional interest, while retail investors held back amid uncertainty over the price outlook.
Source: Gulf Business (WGC report)
Household demand moved the other way. Demand for bars and coins fell 19 percent to 268 tonnes, its lowest level in four years, and gold jewellery consumption fell 17 percent to 313 tonnes — the weakest third-quarter reading in the council's data series going back to 2000 — as the high average price of $4,262 an ounce (yaani about ₹4.03 lakh an ounce) squeezed buyers, particularly in India, even as bar and coin demand rose in China.
The value of demand in the quarter itself rose 22 percent year on year to US$188 billion (yaani about ₹17.8 lakh crore). Technology demand rose 3 percent to 85 tonnes, its highest quarterly total since the end of 2021, and total gold supply was 1 percent lower at 1,369 tonnes, the council said.
India is one of the world's biggest gold-buying nations, and gold sits in almost every Punjabi family's savings and wedding plans. Central banks buying at this pace support high prices for longer — which raises the value of gold families already hold, but also makes every new wedding purchase heavier on the pocket, in Punjab and across the diaspora.
What happens next: the council expects central bank buying to stay an important pillar of demand and sees stable demand through the end of the year as the most likely outcome, while analysts caution that higher interest rates and a stronger dollar remain near-term headwinds for the price. Gold traded near $3,950 an ounce on Tuesday after a sharp October fall took it to a one-year low near $3,870, market reports said — well below the third quarter's $4,262 average, a reminder that the same metal central banks are steadily accumulating can still swing hard for ordinary buyers.