Gold Price in Hong Kong Today

Taels, mace and the chuk kam standard

Hong Kong jewelers quote gold per tael, and the Hong Kong tael is 37.429 grams, which is not the same as the 50-gram market tael used on the mainland. A tael divides into ten mace (錢), so smaller items are priced in mace, and the mace divides into ten candareens.

Two taels in Hong Kong law

Hong Kong’s weights and measures law defines a general tael of about 37.8 g, used for goods such as dried seafood and herbs, and a separate troy tael of 37.429 g for gold and silver. Gold is always sold by the troy tael. A price per tael seen in a grocery or herbal shop is not comparable with a jeweler’s tael.

What chuk kam means legally

Under Hong Kong’s Trade Descriptions (Marking) (Gold and Gold Alloy) Order, chuk kam (足金) must contain at least 990 parts per thousand of gold, and chuk kam 999 (千足金) at least 999. Pieces labeled 18K must be at least 750. These labels are enforced as trade descriptions, so a shop cannot use them loosely, and a mislabeled piece is an offense.

Many shops also sell 9999 gold, known locally as “four nines,” for bars and some jewelry. For practical purposes the difference between 999 and 9999 in a necklace is tiny, but bullion buyers value the extra purity.

The Gold and Silver Exchange Society and the peg

Hong Kong’s traditional bullion market is the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society, founded in 1910. It trades 99 tael gold priced in Hong Kong dollars per tael, which is why the tael survived here long after other markets moved to grams.

The Hong Kong dollar has been linked to the U.S. dollar since October 1983, originally at 7.80. Since 2005 it has traded within a band of 7.75 to 7.85, defended by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, so the local gold rate follows the dollar price with very little currency noise.

Because the band is only 7.75 to 7.85, the currency can shift the local gold price by little more than 1% from one edge of the band to the other. In practice, Hong Kong’s gold price is the dollar price with a near-fixed multiplier.

Converting the ounce price to a tael

1. Take the dollar price per troy ounce.
2. Multiply by the HKD rate, close to 7.8.
3. Multiply by 1.20337, the number of troy ounces in a tael.
4. For 18K, multiply by 0.75.

At an example $3,000 per ounce and 7.80, a tael of pure gold is about HK$28,159. The shop’s selling price will be higher and its buying price lower. The starting figure is the gold price per ounce today.

Buying, selling and wedding gold in Hong Kong shops

1. Read both prices on the board: the selling price per tael and the lower buying-back price.
2. Ask for the labor fee (工錢), charged per piece or per mace on top of the metal.
3. Check the chuk kam or 999 mark and the weight on the receipt.
4. When selling, only the metal counts; labor is not refunded.

Some items are sold per piece at a fixed price rather than by weight. They can look cheap, but dividing the price by the weight often shows a high effective rate per mace. Weight-priced pieces are easier to compare between shops.

Worked example: a 2-mace chuk kam pendant

With an example selling price of HK$28,500 per tael (illustration only), a mace costs HK$2,850, so a 2-mace pendant is HK$5,700 of gold. An example labor fee of HK$300 brings the bill to HK$6,000. If the shop’s buying price that day were an example HK$27,000 per tael, selling the pendant back would return HK$5,400, a round-trip cost of HK$600.

No sales tax

Hong Kong has no sales tax or VAT, so the price on the tag is what you pay. This, together with the linked currency and strong competition among jewelers, has made the city a gold shopping destination for visitors from the mainland and elsewhere in Asia.

For the mainland’s own benchmark in yuan, see the China gold price.

Wedding and festival gold in Hong Kong

Cantonese weddings are among the heaviest buyers of chuk kam jewelry. The bride traditionally wears dragon and phoenix bangles (龍鳳鈪), often several of them given by different relatives, and many families also give a set of four gold pieces known as sei dim gam (四點金).

• Wedding gold is usually 999 so that its value is clear and it can be kept as savings.
• Chinese New Year brings zodiac pendants and small gold bars as gifts.
• Babies receive gold bangles and lockets at their one-month celebration.
• Elderly relatives often pass down gold that is later sold or remade.

Because so much wedding gold is plain chuk kam, families often weigh a gift in taels and mace rather than thinking about its price. That habit makes the tael quote the natural way Hong Kong people think about gold.

For this page in Chinese, see the Hong Kong gold price in Chinese.

Tips for visitors, and a short glossary

• Confirm whether the price is per tael, per mace or per gram before comparing.
• Remember that Taiwan uses a different tael of 37.5 g and the mainland a liang of 50 g.
• Ask for a receipt showing weight, purity and labor separately.
• Check that 18K pieces are marked 750 and chuk kam pieces 990 or 999.

Keeping your paperwork

A proper receipt in Hong Kong lists the item, weight in taels or mace and grams, purity, the gold price used and the labor fee. Keep it with the piece. Shops buy back more readily with their own receipt, and it helps if the piece is ever lost, stolen or questioned at customs.

Bringing Hong Kong gold to the U.S.

U.S. visitors must list gold jewelry and bullion bought in Hong Kong on the CBP declaration when they return. The personal exemption applies to its value, and anything above it may be dutiable. There is no limit on the amount of gold, but it must be declared, so keep receipts handy.

For the ounce in U.S. dollars, see the gold price per ounce.

Short glossary for Hong Kong gold

• Tael (両): 37.429 g in Hong Kong.
• Mace (錢): one-tenth of a tael, 3.7429 g.
• Candareen (分): one-hundredth of a tael.
• Chuk kam (足金): gold of at least 990‰.
• Chuk kam 999 (千足金): gold of at least 999‰.
• Four nines: 9999 gold.
• Gung chin (工錢): labor fee.
• CGSE: the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society, founded 1910.
• Lung fung ngak (龍鳳鈪): dragon and phoenix wedding bangles.
• Sei dim gam (四點金): a traditional set of four wedding gold pieces.
• Linked exchange rate: the Hong Kong dollar’s link to the U.S. dollar, managed by the HKMA within a 7.75–7.85 band.
• Buying-back price: what a shop pays you per tael, below its selling price.

For a nearby market that prices in grams, see the Singapore gold price.

Other currencies are on the gold price by country list.