BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s central bank added gold to its reserves in July, its ninth consecutive month of purchases, official data showed on Thursday.
China’s gold reserves rose to 73.96 million fine troy ounces at the end of July from 73.90 million ounces at the end of June. The country’s gold reserves were valued at $243.99 billion at the end of last month, up from $242.93 billion at the end of June, data from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) showed.
“Continued purchases by one of the world’s largest central banks signal strong underlying demand for gold,” said Zain Vawda, analyst at MarketPulse by OANDA.
“It reinforces the idea that this is a long-term, strategic policy decision,” Vawda added.
The PBOC resumed gold purchases in November 2024 after a six-month pause, a hiatus that had dampened Chinese investor demand.
Gold, traditionally seen as a safe haven during times of uncertainty, scaled record highs earlier this year amid concerns over tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and central bank buying.
A Reuters poll in July showed that worries over global trade and fiscal debt are driving investors toward safer assets, reinforcing gold’s appeal and prompting analysts to sharply raise their forecasts. The poll of 40 analysts and traders returned a median forecast of $3,220 per troy ounce of gold for this year, up from $3,065 in a previous poll. [PREC/POLL]
Spot gold was trading at $3,380 an ounce, as of 0857 GMT.
Meanwhile, the World Gold Council downgraded its estimate of this year’s gold purchases by central banks, but added that the longer-term trend of central banks reallocating from U.S. assets to gold remains intact.
(Reporting by Xiuhao Chen and Lewis Jackson in Beijing, Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Louise Heavens and Eileen Soreng)
