Central bank gold sales fall in Europe
The European Central Bank (ECB) has revealed that gold sales by central banks in the region fell by 38 million ($55.3 million) in the week ending February 8th.
It said that the fall was indicative of a gold sale by one bank and the net purchase of yellow metal by another.
In total, European central banks held just over 201.4 billion ($293.1 billion) worth of gold assets at the end of the accounting period.
A fall in sales may be good news for those buying gold as it means less of the yellow metal is being released to the investment market.
The figures follow a report from precious metals consultancy GFMS that warned central bank gold bullion sales could see a "significant shortfall" from the 500-ton limit dictated by the Central Bank Gold Agreement in its fourth year.
About one-fifth of the world's mined gold is in the possession of central banks at present. Gold comprises ten per cent of the official reserves of these banks, according to GFMS.
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