When markets feel noisy, investors tend to look for instruments that behave in a more predictable way. In Singapore, that instinct is showing up in two places that are easy to miss if you only watch equities: the Swiss franc and physical gold. Both are old-school safe havens, and both are attracting more attention from residents who want something that sits outside the day-to-day volatility of risk assets.
The Swiss franc is a good example of how sentiment can shift without a big public campaign. Over the past year, more Singapore-based investors have been buying and trading the currency as a defensive asset, encouraged by its reputation for stability and Switzerland’s long-standing perception as politically neutral and financially conservative. The move has been supported by performance as well, with the franc strengthening meaningfully against the Singapore dollar in 2025 and edging higher again in 2026. For many buyers, the attraction is not about chasing returns. It is about owning a currency that tends to hold up when confidence in other markets becomes fragile.
What is striking is not just the interest, but the scale of activity reported by some platforms. Trading turnover in Swiss franc pairs among Singapore users rose sharply through 2025 and remained elevated into early 2026, suggesting that the franc has become a more active part of local “risk-off” behaviour. This sits alongside a broader narrative that, while the Singapore dollar is widely viewed as a defensive currency within Asia, the Swiss franc is still treated as a global safe haven when fear is the dominant driver. In plain terms, the Singapore dollar is often associated with policy credibility and stability, while the Swiss franc is sought when investors want an additional layer of protection that feels less tied to the region’s trade cycle.
At the same time, physical gold has been drawing a different kind of demand. Singapore residents have been buying bars and coins at a record pace, even as prices swing sharply and the global backdrop remains unsettled. In the first quarter of 2026, demand for gold bars and coins in Singapore rose 42% year on year to 3.5 tonnes, the highest level on record. What makes this especially notable is the contrast with jewellery: as prices climbed, jewellery volumes fell, while investment-grade bullion demand surged. This pattern tells a simple story. When prices are high and uncertainty persists, many buyers prefer the clarity of bars and coins over decorative purchases, treating gold less as a luxury and more as a reserve asset.
The trend did not appear overnight. Across 2025, demand for gold bars and coins in Singapore increased strongly, while jewellery demand declined. Buyers were navigating a mix of drivers that many people now recognise as the “new normal”: geopolitical tension, energy-price shocks, and a higher-for-longer interest-rate environment that makes most asset classes feel less comfortable. Gold, which does not pay yield, can lose some appeal when bond yields rise, yet the safe-haven impulse can override that logic when investors are primarily focused on diversification and capital preservation rather than optimisation.
What ties the Swiss franc and gold together is not that they are perfect hedges. Neither is. Currency moves can be managed by central banks, and gold prices can fall even in tense periods. What matters to many Singapore investors is the role these assets play inside a wider portfolio. The Swiss franc offers a form of “currency insurance” that feels detached from equity narratives. Gold offers a tangible reserve that has survived more economic regimes than most modern instruments. In a world that keeps producing new shocks, these are the kinds of assets people reach for when they want to sleep better rather than trade harder.
This also says something about investor psychology in Singapore. The city is not short of sophisticated financial products. People can buy almost anything. Yet when uncertainty rises, many still return to instruments that feel simple and durable. It is a reminder that financial sophistication does not always lead to complexity. Sometimes it leads back to basics, especially when the goal is not to win the year, but to keep optionality for the next one.
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