Readers will know that my take on the gold price is rather simple. I see at as a hedge against the US dollar (as well as the attendant stability or otherwise in underlying US policy) and, increasingly, wider monetary disorder. I generally don’t bother therefore with bottom-up assessments of who is buying or what the supply and demand situation is. To me, gold is the ultimate macro metal and if the conditions are right (or wrong) buyers will come (or sell), period.
That said, central bank activity in the gold market is always interesting and is informative given it more or less operates on similar principles around reserve building.
Macquarie has more on the state of play of central bank gold holdings today:
