According to an article published today in the Wall Street Journal,Russia sold 12,000 ounces of gold in September, the first such sale in a year, according to IMF data.
Central banks sold gold regularly until 2009. As a group, they became net buyers in 2010. The shift was driven by emerging-market central banks, which were grappling with rapidly rising foreign-exchange reserves that were a result of large trade surpluses.
Central banks sold gold regularly until 2009. As a group, they became net buyers in 2010. The shift was driven by emerging-market central banks, which were grappling with rapidly rising foreign-exchange reserves that were a result of large trade surpluses.
But this year the tide has turned. Because of slowing economic growth and investors' increasing preference for assets in the developed world, these emerging-market central banks have been using cash reserves to stem economic turmoil and support their currencies. That leaves fewer dollars available to buy gold.
Central banks are on track to cut back their gold-buying by 34% in 2013, according to forecasts by metals consulting firm Thomson Reuters GFMS. The retrenchment follows two consecutive years of rising purchases, according to the IMF.
This year through August, central banks increased their gold stockpiles by 6.2 million troy ounces, compared with 9.6 million ounces in the same period in 2012, according to the IMF.
The IMF collects details on gold holdings through voluntary reports from central banks. While the data is considered accurate for most countries, analysts say China's reported reserves of 33.9 million ounces of gold—the world's fifth-highest—likely underestimates the real total. Overall, the IMF estimates central banks own just over one billion ounces of gold, or about 29,000 metric tons.
To be sure, most central banks are holding on to the gold they have bought, and many analysts expect them to continue building their reserves of the metal, if at a slower pace. Prices have begun to creep up off their summer lows, as investors push back the date when they expect the Fed to start tightening. Gold futures were little changed on Monday, closing at $1,352 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Very often in business newspapers you would see arguments for a bearish sentiment in this case for gold, but finally they are not so conclusive in their remarks, leaving open a door for not so bearish sentiments. That's the way they write articles,quoting completely opposite approaches,and ending them with a copywright label,how wonderful !!
