Emerging market central banks boost gold holdings in July

Reuters 
 Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Colombia joined the ranks of official-sector gold buyers in July for the first time in 13 years, along with Russia, mirroring the trend among emerging central banks to diversify their currency portfolios.

International Monetary Fund data released on Wednesday showed that Russia, which is already the world's eighth largest official holder of bullion, raised its reserves by 4.42 tonnes in July to 841.131 tonnes, while Colombia added 2.3 tonnes to bring its reserves to 9.14 tonnes, its first increase since March 1998.

The gold price, which on Wednesday was last down 0.6 percent at $1,826.49 an ounce at 1145 GMT, has risen by nearly 30 percent this year, fuelled by a sagging dollar, waning confidence in the resilience of the global economy, and purchases by central banks , particularly in emerging market countries, over the past few years.

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