Prices of gold in Japan leaped to 16,078 yen (about 167 U.S. dollars) per gram on Friday, marking a historic high for the second consecutive trading day.
It came after retail gold prices surpassed 16,000 yen per gram for the first time on Wednesday, latest data released by Japan's largest gold retailer showed.
With gold prices soaring, the country's gold market is experiencing a vibrant surge.
The manager of a gold shop located in Tokyo stated that the number of customers inquiring about gold transactions has increased by 20 to 30 percent compared to the same period last year.
Among them, some customers are seeking to offload large gold items that they have cherished at home for many years, taking advantage of the current high prices.
The recent record highs in Japan's retail gold prices are primarily attributed to the uncertain outlook of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies as well as the escalating tensions in the Middle East, which have heightened investor risk aversion and led funds to flow into gold, viewed as a safe-haven asset.
Japanese media outlets noted that if the yen exhibits a trend of depreciation in the foreign exchange market, it will further drive up gold prices.
Investors in the gold market are closely monitoring future exchange rate trends in conjunction with the monetary policies of the U.S. and Japan.
Gold prices hit record high in Japan
China on Wednesday issued a guideline outlining arrangements for pilot work to extend rural land contracts by an additional 30 years upon the expiration of the second-round contracts.
The document, jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, comprises 15 specific measures with a mandate to strengthen the protection of farmers' contractual land rights and interests, enhance the management of rural land contracting, and reinforce organization work and leadership, among others.
The document emphasizes the unchanged policies of unwaveringly upholding the collective ownership of rural land and the farmer household land contracting and operating system, ensuring the principal position of farmers and the stability of rural society.
To carry out the rural land contracts extension pilot work effectively, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other competent authorities have since 2020 guided various provinces in gradually expanding the scope of the pilot program. This year, province-wide trials are expected to be conducted across 29 provincial-level regions.
Under China's household contract responsibility system, all rural land is owned by rural collectives, which allocate contract rights for parcels of farmland to eligible households. The tenure of contract rights was 15 years in the 1980s and renewed by another 30 years for the second-round contracts in the 1990s. The expiration of second-round contracts is expected to enter a peak period from 2026 to 2028.
China issues pilot work guideline for rural land contracts extension
