Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

Jewelers in Shanghai will increase the price of gold products next week as a result of the global gold price shooting up to a 24-year high of US$511.20 an ounce in London on Tuesday. This is according to officials with the local gold trade association, as cited in today's Laodong Daily.
The local retail gold price now stands at 157 yuan (US$19.4) per gram, already an increase of 2-yuan this week and the 16th increase this year.
Officials with the Shanghai Gold & Jewelry Trade Association, which gives guidance on market prices to its member stores, didn't quantify the pending price increase, saying only that it all depends on market developments.
But a saleswoman with Shanghai Laofengxiang Co Ltd, a leading local jeweler, estimated the price could rise to 160 yuan per gram, referring to the market in the South China city of Guangzhou, where the retail price has risen 6 yuan to 166 yuan per gram. Retail prices also jumped in Beijing and Fuzhou, Fujian Province.
Despite soaring prices, gold retains its allure as a safe haven for investors.  Nearly 40 percent of the respondents to a recent survey with monthly incomes over 3,000 yuan, considered the middle-and-upper income classes, said they are interested in investing in gold. One-third of these said they were willing to invest one-fifth of their personal assets.
A proof of the survey findings is that local banks have seen an increase in customers and the turnover of gold has jumped, according to the Laodong Daily report.