Switzerland is the world's biggest gold refining centre and transit hub, while India and China are the two biggest gold consumers and Thailand is a regional trade hub.
One reason for the pick-up is a steady decline in gold prices from record highs last August. Most gold in Asia is sold as jewellery and buyers are put off by high prices.
Higher buying activity in China, Singapore, Japan.
Dealers charged premiums of $6 an ounce over official domestic prices, inclusive of 12.5% import and 3% sales taxes, compared with last week's premium of $5.
he miner said averaged realized gold price jumped 25% to $1,852 per ounce in the quarter, while attributable gold production fell about 11% to 1.6 million ounces.
The company cited the sale of Red Lake and Kalgoorlie, and lower production at Cerro Negro for the drop in production.
Growing optimism for a $1.9 trillion US stimulus plan and rising inflation expectations supported benchmark Treasury yields, which in turn pushed the dollar to a more than one-week peak.