China’s central bank pauses gold purchases for sixth straight month

China’s gold holdings stood at 72.8 million troy ounces at the end of last month. The value of the gold reserves, however, rose to $199.06 billion from $191.47 billion at the end of September.

Bullion prices have surged about 33% this year, on track for the largest annual gain since 1979, driven by the start of US Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut cycle, geopolitical tensions, uncertainty surrounding the US presidential election, and strong demand from central banks.

According to the World Gold Council, gold purchases by global central banks, active in 2022-2023, are set to decelerate in 2024 but remain above pre-2022 levels. This is partly due to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) pausing its 18-month buying streak in May.

“Another month of China refraining from buying indicates the PBOC is looking for a better price to build its gold reserves. We don’t think China has changed its foreign exchange reserve strategy and so is looking for more gold, but deterred by the higher prices,” Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree, said.

The share of gold in the PBOC’s overall reserves, a key gauge of many central banks’ holdings for gold, reached 5.7% at the end of October vs 4.9% at the of April.

This week’s meeting of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress is in the spotlight as investors look for further details on fiscal stimulus measures.