Chinese investors have been snapping up gold bars and coins, overshadowing the usual purchases of gold jewelry and contributing to the metal’s price rise of about 15% from six-year lows in December.

The biggest jump during that period, Mr. Seif said, has been the 10-fold increase in sales of 250-gram bars, which cost roughly US$10,000. Sales of the 1,000-gram kilobars were up by 50%, with most of the buyers corporate investors rather than jewelry makers.