Central banks have boosted their gold stocks by almost 10% since the financial crash, reflecting its renewed attractiveness as a safe haven in an environment of uncertainty and low or negative interest rates. He said central banks were turning back to gold purchases in line with a century of practice between 1870 and 1970. “In fact, the gold price posted the strongest first half-yearly performance, up 25%, for more than 35 years,” it said. The OMFIF report found that central bank purchases over the past eight years have returned to the 100-year average up to 1970 when annual net gold purchases were 350 tonnes a year. The report said: “Central bank gold transactions have often been somewhat disassociated from the gold price.”Central banks were net sellers during four decades of fluctuating but generally rising bullion prices from the early 1970s onwards.

Source: The Guardian September 19, 2016 13:49 UTC