Recently, I noticed that the gold market has indeed been surging wildly. Last year, gold prices increased by 64.72% for the entire year, marking the strongest annual performance since 1979, and recently even spiked to $5,600 per ounce. The local gold price trend in Malaysia also fluctuates along with international spot gold, with 999 pure gold prices rising from the beginning of the year, and some gold shops' prices now approaching 750 ringgit per gram.

Looking at the recent market, spot gold has been oscillating repeatedly around the $5,000 mark, with sharp fluctuations between $5,093 and $5,281 within a week. Supported by geopolitical tensions and inflation pressures, the bullish trend remains quite clear. Due to the international gold price surge, local gold shops have also adjusted prices at an astonishing speed, with some even switching to real-time listings.

This wave of market movement has also led to polarization. On one side, investors holding physical gold are rushing to cash out at high prices; on the other side, large risk-hedging funds continue to buy at high levels. With gold prices changing so rapidly, the key factors to watch are whether the US-Iran situation will escalate and the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut expectations. If geopolitical tensions ease, be cautious of a pullback from high levels; conversely, gold prices may continue to rise.

If you want to participate in gold trading, the international spot gold XAUUSD trading hours are basically nearly 24 hours from Monday to Friday. During winter time, trading opens at 7 a.m. on Monday and closes at 6 a.m. on Saturday, with a 1-hour settlement break in between. Local FGLD futures trading follows the rules of the Malaysian Exchange, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., including a lunch break, with the most active period from 9 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. the next day, which can connect to the volatility of the New York market.