Against a background of increasing international prices, domestic gold price has risen from 130 yuan per gram at the beginning of the year to currently over 170 yuan per gram.

The higher prices have boosted trading volumes. Information from the Shanghai Gold Exchange shows that in the first six months, the turnover of gold on the exchange reached 88.058 billion yuan (11 billion U.S. dollars), up a whopping 78.41 percent in value terms and close to the turnover figure for the whole of 2005.

This represents a volume of 572.57 tons of gold traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, up 32.97 percent year on year.

Twenty-two financial institutions, including China's Minsheng Bank, have become institutional members of the Shanghai Gold Exchange this year, bringing the total number of institutional members to 130, the newspaper said.

Analysts expect the gold market to remain bullish until the end of the year thanks to a weak U.S. dollar and high oil prices.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)