LONDON – Philippines raised its gold holdings in March by the largest amount in 3-1/2 years, while Mexico and Ukraine made additions in April, in line with the trend among emerging market central banks to diversify away from the dollar and the euro.
Data from the International Monetary Fund on Thursday showed Philippines added 32.13 tons of gold to bring its total to 194.241 tons in March, marking the biggest increase in one month since September 2008.
The figures also showed Mexico raised its gold holdings by 2.92 tons to 125.5 tons in April, while Kazakhstan raised its reserves by 2.02 tons to 98.19 tons last month and Ukraine added 1.40 tons to bring its reserves to 30.607 tons.
The gold price, which hit a record $1,920.30 an ounce in September, was down 0.1 percent on the day at $1,558.76 an ounce by 0723 GMT.
The IMF's international finance statistics report showed Sri Lanka cut its holdings by 2.177 tons to 7.807 tons in January this year, while Russia, Mozambique and Tajikistan also made additions. (Reuters)

May 21,2013 12:50 AM
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