Gold

China’s gold reserves rose to 73.61 million fine troy ounces at the end of February from 73.45 million at the end of January, as the central bank kept buying the precious metal for a fourth straight month.

“The PBOC’s purchases are an important factor underpinning gold, so a continuation of its buying in February could help to build further strength behind the gold price,” said Frank Watson, market analyst at Kinesis Money.

“Unlike investors, central banks are relatively price insensitive to gold and tend to buy as part of a restructuring of their reserve holdings,” Watson said.

Source – Reuters

Spot gold fell 0.1% to $2,916.75 an ounce as of 11:55 a.m. ET (1655 GMT), after rising in the last three sessions. U.S. gold futures were flat at $2,925.

“We are just seeing some mild profit-taking pressure from recent gains, the underlying fundamentals are still bullish… Another thing that’s putting some mild pressure on the gold market is a rise in bond yields,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior market analyst at Kitco Metals.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hit a more than one-week high, reducing the appeal of non-yielding gold.

Spot silver dipped 0.2% to $32.70 an ounce, palladium was steady at $942.25 and platinum was down 0.3% at $966.63.

Source – Reuters

India’s central bank plans to ask lenders to follow stricter underwriting processes for gold loans and monitor the end-use of funds as it tries to cool growth in the fast-growing segment, seven people, including industry sources and those aware of the regulator’s thinking, said.

“The RBI wants to ensure that the entities are following a standard protocol and any growth in the gold loan sector is not out of bounds,” one of the sources aware of the central bank’s thinking, said.

Source – Reuters

Mali said on Wednesday it was suspending licenses for foreign artisanal gold mining companies after a series of fatal accidents in the West African country, one of Africa’s top three gold producers.

Gen. Assimi Goita, president of Mali’s transitional government, ordered “the suspension of artisanal mining permits granted to foreigners,” according to a statement issued following a Council of Ministers meeting.

“These measures are designed to further strengthen the state authorities and protect our fellow citizens. These measures give us the power to seize materials (mining equipment), which will be confiscated and placed in the domain of national heritage,” Gen. Daoud Ali Mohammedine, the minister of security and civil protection, said on ORTM.

Source – The Associated Press – Business News