Singapore retail investors dump AI tech for gold

Within commodity portfolios, gold reigns supreme at 79% ownership, followed by silver (36%) and oil (24%).

Retail investors are turning to gold as their expectations for artificial intelligence and technology stocks dropped in the first quarter (Q1).

In its latest Retail Investor Beat survey, eToro said that 50% of 1,000 Singapore-based retail investors are now invested in gold, up from 45% in the fourth quarter of 2025 (Q4 2025).

“For those who invest in commodities, this asset class currently makes up around 17% of their portfolio on average, with gold being the most popular holding (79%), followed by silver (36%), oil (24%), natural gas (18%) and copper (12%),” the company said.

This as retail investors’ excitement around AI and tech stocks is moderating. The number of local investors who expect AI-related stock prices to increase in 2026 has dropped from 55% in Q4 2025 to 49% in Q1.

“This shift in sentiment was already underway, even before tensions escalated in the Middle East. Expectations had been drifting lower since the third quarter of 2025, and the energy shock only accelerated that. On the backdrop of stickier inflation and rate cuts being further postponed, the macro tailwind that carried these stocks through 2024 and much of 2025 is no longer as reliable,” said Zavier Wong, market analyst at eToro.

OCBC has said that gold transactions amongst its customers increased 60% in the four weeks following 28 February compared with the four weeks prior, amidst the Middle East conflict. The figure is also seven times higher than the same period a year ago.

The World Gold Council also said in its Q1 2026 Gold Demand Trends report that Singapore was amongst the Southeast Asian countries that recorded significant year-on-year gains in bar and coin investment.

“In Singapore, the strong investment momentum we saw through 2025 has carried into this year, with the market posting its highest quarter on record,” it said.

According to the eToro survey, 41% of the retail investors said that their primary reason for holding gold is because of its short-term store of value.

Other reasons include expectation that gold prices will continue to rise (35%), protection against inflation (33%), safe-haven asset during periods of market volatility (32%), portfolio diversification (25%), and hedge against US dollar weakness or concentration in US assets (20%).

At least in the coming months, investors expressed strong optimism in the commodity's performance, with 24% expecting gold prices to increase over 10% in the next six months. The same number expects a 5% to 10% increase, another 18% believe they will rise by 1% to 5%, whilst 10% think they will remain about the same.

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