Gold products are displayed at the Korea Gold Exchange headquarters in Jongno District, Seoul, Dec. 10. Yonhap

Retail investors are flocking to the gold market by actively purchasing gold investment exchange-traded funds (ETFs) amid recent price drops in gold.

Over the past two months, these investors have made net purchases totaling nearly 90 billion won ($61 million), betting on a future rise in gold prices.

According to the Korea Exchange, Thursday, retail investors net purchased 79.4 billion won worth of gold investment ETFs from Korea Investment Management from Oct. 25 to Dec. 24.

During the same period, they also bought a total of 7 billion won worth of gold-related ETFs operated by other asset management firms, including the Mirae Asset Global Investments.

Meanwhile, gold prices saw a decline during this period, dropping by 4.04 percent from 129,100 won per gram to 123,890 won.

While there has been a slight recovery recently, compared to the year-high of 130,050 won on Oct. 23, the upward momentum has clearly weakened.

In particular, after Donald Trump was elected U.S. president in early November, the surge in the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields caused gold prices to fall to the 110,000-won range.

The hawkish U.S. Federal Open Market Committee's announcement on Dec. 18 added pressure on gold prices, as the Federal Reserve reversed its previous forecast of four rate cuts totaling 1 percentage point and instead signaled that it would lower rates twice by 0.5 percentage points next year.

As a result, gold-related ETFs also experienced sharp declines ranging from 4 percent to 11 percent.

However, retail investors are actively purchasing gold investment ETFs, believing that gold prices will eventually rise.

The securities industry has also offered a positive outlook on gold investments.

NH Investment & Securities expects that as long as the U.S. interest rate-cutting trend does not reverse, gold prices will remain strong next year, recommending an overweight investment stance.

"Short-term adjustment in gold prices should be seen as a buying opportunity from a long-term perspective," analyst Hwang Byeong-jin said. "As long as there is no reversal of the belt-tightening policy by the Federal Reserve, gold prices will likely follow a bullish cycle."