China halts retail paper gold contracts amid oil price surge from Middle East conflict

China’s major state‑owned banks, led by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, stopped servicing retail leveraged gold contracts on the Shanghai Gold Exchange at the close of trading on 24 July 2026. The ban ends the availability of speculative "paper gold" products for individual investors, who must either close positions or take physical gold, while physical gold purchases, ETFs and institutional trades remain unaffected.

At the same time, equity markets in Poland stayed near recent highs despite heightened geopolitical risk. Fighting in the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea pushed West Texas Intermediate to $93.5 a barrel and Brent crude to $102, stoking inflation worries and the prospect of higher interest rates, though Polish stock indices have not yet shown significant sell‑offs. The combination of China’s regulatory move and rising oil prices adds pressure on global investors and feeds into expectations about future Federal Reserve policy and capital flows.