[Anchor]

Gold, which was literally as expensive as gold itself, hit an all-time high early this year before tumbling, plunging up to 30 percent from its peak last month. However, prices have shown signs of a rebound since entering this month, drawing keen attention to whether this will lead to a trend reversal.

Reporter Lee Tae-gwon has the details.

[Reporter]

A gold exchange in Seoul.

Although gold prices have dropped from over 1 million won per don (3.75g) earlier this year to the 800,000-won range, customers have noticeably decreased.

[Seo Min-cheol / Managing Director, Korea Gold Exchange: Compared to our peak sales at the end of January, sales have dropped to about one-fifth now. Many people are saying they will buy after prices drop further.]

Spot gold prices approached 270,000 won per gram in January to hit an all-time high, but plummeted by about 30 percent to the 180,000-won range on July 30, marking the lowest level of the year.

As the fallout from the war between the U.S. and Iran pushed up international oil prices and intensified inflationary pressures, expectations grew that interest rates would rise. Because gold does not pay interest to its holders, its investment appeal diminished.

However, gold prices have shown a slight rebound this month, rising for five consecutive trading sessions.

[Lee Jung-chrol / Yongsan-gu, Seoul: Prices are undergoing a deep correction, right? They could fall further, but knowing that this is the bottom and that prices have dropped significantly, one would expect them to go back up...]

This is interpreted as the result of easing tensions in the Middle East and expectations that the pace of future rate hikes will slow down, as the U.S. Federal Reserve froze its benchmark interest rate for the fifth consecutive time.

The Bank of Korea also announced a gold purchase plan for the first time in 13 years, stating that the burden has eased due to the recent decline in gold prices.

[Oh Jae-young / Analyst, KB Securities: Oil prices have fallen a bit, and concerns over U.S. rate hikes—which were originally high—have eased significantly. The somewhat weak employment data is also playing a part...]

Still, some point out that it remains to be seen whether gold prices will pivot back to a sustained upward trend.

[Choi Jin-young / Senior Analyst, Daishin Securities: For gold to rally further from here, interest rates would need to be cut, but the U.S. Fed is holding rates steady and central banks around the world are increasingly moving toward tightening.]

Amid expectations that gold prices will move in tandem with interest rate forecasts for the time being, many observers predict that a surge like the one seen in the second half of last year will not occur.

(Camera footage: Kim Hak-mo | Video editing: Shin Se-eun | Design: Choi Jae-young)