(Bloomberg) — A relentless rise in the price of gold is delivering windfall across emerging markets, boosting investor confidence in countries that mine and buy the metal. In South Africa, home to the world’s deepest gold mines, shares are on course for the best year in two decades, with shares of miners such as Sibanye Stillwater Ltd., AngloGold Ashanti Plc and Gold Fields Ltd. which tripled in value. The credit rating of Ghana, Africa’s top gold producer, has been upgraded by Moody’s Ratings. Emerging market countries are among the biggest buyers of gold, boosting national coffers. For emerging market money managers, gold’s surge gives them another reason to stay bullish. By triggering a wealth effect for both gold producers and buyers, valuable gold holdings give investors more persuasion to buy. In a report earlier this month, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists listed South Africa’s mining strength as a key reason why he sees gains ahead for the country’s bonds and stocks. “The rally in gold is beneficial for a small group of countries in emerging markets such as Uzbekistan, Ghana and South Africa,” said Daniel Wood, a portfolio manager at William Blair Investment Management. “The bigger story of the rising gold price is that investors are increasingly looking for alternative investments away from the more traditional developed market currencies, particularly the US dollar.” Wood said he is bullish on Uzbekistan’s currency because the country is both a major gold producer and has significant reserves. He added that the rising metal prices are part of the reason why South Africa’s markets are experiencing such a historic year. South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index rose more than 30% in 2025. The rand is near a one-year high, and the 10-year government bond yield recently fell below 9% for the first time in more than seven years. The slowdown in inflation that has enabled the country’s central bank to lower interest rates is also boosting market sentiment. All in all, it’s a dramatic turnaround for a country that has struggled to attract investors for years because of political turmoil and power shortages that have stifled economic growth. Another country benefiting from the gold rally is Ghana. After enduring an economic crisis in 2022 that caused it to default on its debt, the country was on a road to recovery under new President John Mahama. The cedi has strengthened by around 38% this year, the largest increase worldwide. Other investors said they were eyeing countries such as Poland, Turkey and Kazakhstan, which have all added to their gold reserves. Alexis de Mones, a fixed income portfolio manager at Ashmore Group Plc, said that while the trend is generally positive, investors should not read too much into it. “Those countries that have a larger share of gold in their reserves will also look better, but one should not necessarily look at price effects as a source of credit strength,” he said. The bigger driver for emerging markets is the fact that higher gold prices are coming at a time when the dollar is weak and financial conditions are generally easing, de Mones added. That’s a view echoed by Ning Sun, a senior emerging markets strategist at State Street Markets in Boston. She said rising gold prices are usually part of a broad move that pulls down anything risky. But in this case, given dollar weakness and nervousness about US economic policy, that relationship has flipped. And now, emerging markets appear to be a winner. “The rally favors emerging markets more than developed markets,” she said. “Emerging markets don’t just produce gold, they also store the metal.” What to watch: –With help from Peter Laca, Malavika Kaur Makol, Wojciech Moskwa, Andras Gergely and Jorgelina do Rosario. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2025 Bloomberg LP
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