The Debts of the Lenders: China Nearly Doubles Gold Reserves

A story bound to make any goldbug happy. Even as the price of retail jewelry falls large institutional buyers like China are stocking up on bullion.

China has quietly almost doubled its gold reserves to become the world’s fifth-biggest holder of the precious metal, it emerged on Friday, in a move that signals the revival of bullion after years of fading importance.

Gold rose to a three-week high of more than $910 an ounce after Hu Xiaolian, head of the secretive State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages the country’s $1,954bn in foreign exchange reserves, revealed China had 1,054 tonnes of gold, up from 600 tonnes in 2003.

Source:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/
1d23f80c-30aa-11de-bc38-00144feabdc0.html