Central Banks Gold Demand Slows Down to Five Year Low

May 4, 2017 Share Print 0

Central bank gold demand contracted to lows not seen in more than half a decade in the first quarter as Chinese purchases of the precious metal stalled, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in a report Thursday.

The official sector added only 76 tonnes of bullion to its holdings in the first three months of the year, down more than 25 percent when compared to the year-prior and its lowest quarterly level since 2011.

Year-on-year gold demand overall slumped 18 percent, according to the WGC’s latest Gold Demand Trends report, as Chinese buying came to a standstill.

China, the world’s biggest market for the safe haven asset, reportedly held off making any additions to its gold reserves since October, the first time Beijing has done so since it started releasing quarterly reserves data in 2015.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.