China Added Gold to Its Reserves Again in December After November

Forex - The People's Bank of China (PBoC) resumed purchases in November after a six-month hiatus, adding gold to its reserves for the second consecutive month in December. According to PBoC data, China's gold reserves increased from 72.96 million ounces at the end of the previous month to 73.29 million ounces by the end of December. The value of China's gold reserves fell from $193.43 billion at the end of November to $191.34 billion at the end of last month. The PBoC ended an 18-month period of declining gold purchases that negatively impacted Chinese investor demand in May of last year. Meanwhile, China's foreign exchange reserves decreased from $3.266 trillion at the end of November to $3.202 trillion at the end of December, while market expectations had projected a drop to $2.25 trillion.