Gold is facing a back-to-back slump: the yellow metal's prices fell for the second time on Tuesday.
"Gold prices have now erased 10 months of gains after posting their biggest monthly drop in more than three years, with Donald Trump's election to the US presidency only exacerbating a cocktail of negatives for the metal," Reuters reportedMonday.
MarketWatch.com echoed the media outlet highlighting that "the likelihood of a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike next week" and a stronger dollar in 2017 may cut demand for the precious metal.
However, these prospects have not discouraged Russia and China from buying gold bullion at a steady pace.
"He did it again. [Vladimir] Putin has bought gold. It wasn't he, personally, who bought it. Russia has bought gold. The issuing bank. And more than a little. 48 tons in one month. That is something. Moscow has obtained about 1.5 percent of its annual gold production," Nikolaus Jilch of Die Presse, an Austrian daily, wroteMonday.
"This was the largest Russia's gold purchase in almost 20 years," the Austrian journalist underscored, "Within 24 months, the Kremlin's gold reserves have grown by nearly 50 percent."According to the World Gold Council, Russia has accumulated 1542 tons by November, 2016.
"Russia is just a little behind the second largest gold buyer on the planet. Meanwhile, China has collected 1840 tons," Jilch pointed out.
So, what lies behind this gold-buying spree?
According to the journalist, the answer is simple: gold is favored by many as a long-term investment.
"And, of course, gold is a political metal," Jilch remarked.Those who want to learn more about the direction of the trend should take a look at issuing banks, he noted. The journalist called attention to the fact that in 2010 the world's central banks changed their strategy and began to accumulate gold.
"This means that they began to take away more gold from the market than they sell it annually," he emphasized.
The journalist recalled that more than a decade ago European central banks limited their gold sales following the introduction of the euro in September 1999.
In 1999 major European central banks inked the Central Bank Gold Agreement (CBGA 1) which limited the amount of gold that they could collectively sell per year.
"They stated that gold would remain an important element of global monetary reserves, and agreed to limit their collective sales to 2,000 tons over the following five years, or around 400 tons a year," the World Gold Council website explains, adding that the move was aimed at stabilizing the gold market.
The Austrian journalist cited David Marsh, currency expert and co-founder of OMFIF (Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum), who noted that issuing banks are now buying 350 tons of gold per year.
"It's about two things," Marsh said, "The developed countries are no longer selling [gold bullion] — and a number of developing countries are buying it. They do this because they do not fully trust the dollar for political reasons."
Dmitry Tulin, Russia's Central Bank governor, explained Russia's appetite for gold by the fact that "only gold reserves are a 100 percent insurance against political and legal risk."For its part, China has made its gold policy more transparent and now regularly publishes data on its gold holdings, Jilch underscored, adding that the country's gold market is expanding.
Furthermore, in April 2016 China's Shanghai Gold Exchange launched a new benchmark price for gold bullion, trading the precious metal in yuans.
"The recently-opened Shanghai Gold Exchange differs greatly from the London Gold Exchange in one fundamental area: In Shanghai, buyers take physical delivery of gold whereas London deals in paper-based gold futures contracts. In Shanghai, 'what you buy is what you get' whereas in the West, gold is a virtualized commodity," Tom McGregor, Commentator and Editor at CNTV (China Network Television), told Sputnik this September.
China's moves have prompted speculation that the country is going to introduce a gold-backed yuan. However, according to the Austrian journalist these assumptions are unfounded.
Citing experts, Jilch assumed that the gold-buying spree on part of developing countries is caused by psychological factors rather than the intent to return to gold backed currencies.
The journalist envisions that gold prices will continue to slide in 2017.
However, it's good news for long-term investors.
印度人對於黃金出了名的熱愛使國家遭受了嚴重且持續不斷的經濟問題。在2011年，澳大利亞投資銀行麥格理銀行預計印度78%的家庭儲蓄是黃金儲蓄。事實上，這一情況意味著印度有兩套貨幣貨幣體系，而人們相較於持有盧比更青睞黃金。這與其他主要經濟體都不同，那麼問題來了：該如何使人們不再青睞貴金屬？通過持有黃金代替銀行存款是的印度增長處於長期受拖累狀態。這是因為在銀行系統中可藉出去的資金並沒有增加。還有一個原因在於民眾儲藏的這些黃金中有79%是黃金飾品而不是金條或金幣。根據調查報告顯示在2015年印度是全球最大的黃金首飾消費國，消費量接近700噸。不幸的是印度自身不盛產黃金，每年的開採量不足2噸，這就意味著印度每年花在黃金進口上的費用就到250億美元，從而推搞了財政赤字，是盧比價值貶值。為了能夠持續的減少黃金進口，在2013年印度政府開始增加黃金的進口稅，稅率為6%，到了現在稅率已經到達了10%。但是因為黃金價格的下跌，印度在2015年的黃金進口量增加了12%。印度打進口貴金屬這場戰役已經有很長時間了，印度政府對進口的白銀關稅從5%提升至11%。一份1912年發布的報告顯示自關稅上漲後的三年內，印度對於白銀的需求下跌了28%。有分析指出，這其中的原因不僅僅是因為白銀的關稅增加了，還因為人們為白銀找到了很好的替代品——黃金。
