Gold costs have been rising this 12 months amid bets that US price cuts are imminent and on account of safe-haven demand pushed by geopolitical and financial uncertainty, with central banks making strong purchases.
Gold costs have surged 21% to date this 12 months and are hovering barely beneath a file excessive of $2,531.60 hit on Aug. 20.
Previous to the pause in its purchases, the Folks’s Financial institution of China (PBOC) had purchased gold for 18 consecutive months.
The central financial institution was the world’s largest single purchaser of gold in 2023 and its choice to place its shopping for on maintain has helped mute Chinese language investor demand in current months.
The PBOC is predicted to renew purchases in some unspecified time in the future regardless of excessive costs on account of political, quite than economical, motivations, akin to its want to be much less depending on the US greenback as a reserve asset, mentioned Carsten Menke, an analyst at Julius Baer.
(By Polina Devitt, Qiaoyi Li and Ryan Woo; Modifying by Edwina Gibbs)