Gold prices surged to a new historic high on Tuesday, with June gold futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange briefly surpassing 3,500 U.S. dollars per troy ounce during the Asian trading session, reflecting heightened investor demand amid rising global economic uncertainty.
June gold futures reached 3,509.9 U.S. dollars per troy ounce early on Tuesday, a nearly 2.5 percent increase from the previous day's close. Later in the day, prices had retreated slightly to 3,469.1 U.S. dollars, but were still up 1.25 percent from the prior session.
Since the start of the year, the gold price has surged over 31 percent, with nearly 10 percent of that increase occurring since U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of "reciprocal tariffs" on April 2.
The volatility surrounding U.S. trade policies has shaken markets and undermined investor confidence, pushing gold higher as a safe-haven asset.
Economists note that the U.S. dollar's appeal as a safe-haven has diminished, with investors increasingly turning to gold and driving up its price to new record highs.
Gold price hits record high amid growing market instability
The lead-up to China's May Day holiday has kicked off with a movie market boom as the box office for new releases and re-releases exceeded 100 million yuan (about 13.75 million U.S. dollars) by Wednesday, including pre-sales and limited previews. Positioned between the Spring Festival and the summer vacation movie season, the May Day holiday period from May 1 to 5 is a pivotal slot for China's film market. This year, the holiday lineups include a strong mix of domestic commercial genre films and reality-based stories, catering to a wide range of audience preferences.
According to the online statistics platform Maoyan, the top six films in the Chinese box office leading up to the May Day holiday as of Wednesday night were Dumpling Queen, Thunderbolts*, The Open Door, A Gilded Game, Princess Mononoke, and I Grass, I Love. Four of these are Chinese domestic movies.
Among all domestic new releases during the holiday period, two featured comedies have garnered high expectations. "I Grass, I Love" offers a hilarious road trip featuring a truck driver and his young companion, while "The Open Door" is a satire on the chaos of livestreaming and the influencer industry.
Suspense-action films, a traditional staple of the May Day movie market, are represented by "A Gilded Game," a thriller centered on a financial crime, as well as "Trapped," inspired by true events.
Among drama films, "The Dumpling Queen," based on the true story of an underprivileged woman's rise as an entrepreneur, has stood out since the pre-sale. Animated films for family and children include "Happy Heroes: Rebel Rescue" and "Octonauts: The Crisis of the Tsunami".
China’s May Day holiday box office surpasses 100 mln yuan in pre-sales, previews
