Marissa joined the World Gold Council in 2024 and works in the Research team as Senior Research Lead, APAC. She previously held position with Preqin where she led the development and implementation of research initiatives for private market investments for the APAC region. Previously, she worked for Thomson Reuters and Mizuho Financial Group.
Marissa has a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the National University of Singapore.
Central banks continued their strong interest for gold in January with reported net purchases of 18t. The sustained buying highlights the strategic importance of gold in official reserves, particularly as central banks navigate heightened geopolitical risks.
Central banks reported 47t of net purchases this month – the highest amount recorded y-t-d. The Central Bank of Turkey led the field, adding 17t of gold to its reserves, followed by India and Poland – 14t and 8t respectively.
Central banks reported net buying of 8t in August via the IMF and other public sources. Demand was the lowest reported figure since March 2024 with net buying activity coming from emerging markets.
Geopolitical risks have been elevated in recent years. And our analysis shows that spikes in geopolitical risk usually lead to equity market sell offs. While risk assets suffer during these periods, gold has delivered robust returns as an effective portfolio risk diversifier. And we believe gold can continue to benefit investors’ portfolios in today’s world as a geopolitical risk hedge and return enhancer following its stunning performance y-t-d.
