Shotlist Dubai, UAE - Dec 25, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 1. Cityscape 2. Various of crowded gold, jewelry market, people browsing 3. Various of gold store with sign reading:"We buy old gold for cash" 4. Gold ingots 5. Gold store employee weighing gold ingots 6. Various of user interacting with mobile gold investment app 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Aly Abdo, chief operating officer, O Gold (ending with shot 8): "People want to have a way that they can save gold in fractions that can hedge against inflation. We started our services almost (in) January this year (2025). So today we have almost 800,000 users." 8. Various of gold bracelets on display; customers browsing inside gold store 9. Various of gold store employee assisting customer; jewelry displays 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Gold shopper (name not given): "We are thinking to buy some gold for our family members, but as you can see, in the last one year, due to some reasons, the price of gold increases too much. So of course earlier we though to buy, for example, ten grams, but now we can buy only five or seven, eight grams." 11. SOUNDBITE (English) Muhammed Abdul Qadir, marketing manager, Al Heseena Jewelry (partially overlaid with shot 12): "Because the [gold] things are getting lighter and we're making it more unique, so that we can introduce more customers. And in fact it actually worked. So we have a lot of customers coming this year." ++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++ 12. Various of interior of gold store; customer browsing jewelry ++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++ Mumbai, India - Dec 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 13. Various of customers entering gold store, trying on jewelry 14. Gold bracelets for sale 15. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Anita, customer (full name not given): "I used to always buy 24K gold jewelry. Now, I can only choose 18K or 14K. It's just too expensive." New Delhi, India - Dec 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 16. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Jain, finance director, Chandni Chowk Bullion Traders Association (full name not given): "Due to budget constraints, some customers can only afford very lightweight products. Jewelry makers are under real pressure. Even handcrafted pieces cannot match the quality we had in the past." Mumbai/New Delhi, India - Dec 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 17. Various of customers selecting gold jewelry; staff weighing gold items 18. Gold jewelry on display Storyline As international gold prices soar, consumers across the Middle East and South Asia are changing how they buy, wear, and gift the precious metal, increasingly turning to lighter jewelry, digital gold investments, and old-for-new exchanges. In Dubai, a pivotal hub for global gold trade in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), going digital has become the new trend. Locals who typically gift cash during New Year celebrations are now using smartphones to send gold in small amounts, as low as 0.1 grams, through investment apps. In addition, users can invest in gold incrementally through the apps, with a minimum threshold of just one dirham. According to the app developers, gold prices have continued to rise over the past year, attracting more and more investors, particularly among the younger generation, into the gold market. "People want to have a way that they can save gold that can hedge against inflation. We started our services almost (in) January this year (2025). So today we have almost 800,000 users," said Aly Abdo, chief operating officer of the Dubai-based app development firm, O Gold. The popularity of digital gold has also spurred traditional gold retailers in the UAE to adapt quickly. Many have begun offering lightweight "slimmed-down" jewelry as a response to price-sensitive customers. "We are thinking to buy some gold for our family members, but as you can see, in the last one year, due to some reasons, the price of gold increases too much. So of course earlier we though to buy, for example, ten grams, but now we can buy only five or seven, eight grams," said a gold shopper. "Because the [gold] things are getting lighter and we're making it more unique, so that we can introduce more customers. And in fact it actually worked. So we have a lot of customers coming this year," said Muhammed Abdul Qadir, marketing manager at Al Heseena Jewelry. In India, one of the world's biggest gold consumer markets, the gold rush is also being redefined. The end-of-year and New Year period traditionally marks a wedding season, during which gold jewelry purchases peak. But rising gold prices have pushed buyers toward lower-purity and lower-weight products. "I used to always buy 24K gold jewelry. Now, I can only choose 18K or 14K. It's just too expensive," said Anita, a customer in Mumbai. "Due to budget constraints, some customers can only afford very lightweight products. Jewelry makers are under real pressure. Even handcrafted pieces cannot match the quality we had in the past," said Jain, finance director of the Chandni Chowk Bullion Traders Association in New Delhi. According to the World Gold Council (WGC)'s Q3 2025 Global Gold Demand Trends Report, India's gold jewelry consumption fell 31 percent year on year to 117.7 tonnes in Q3. At the same time, Indian gold investment soared, surpassing ten billion U.S. dollars in a single quarter, a historic high.