China ramped up its Gold reserves by 5% in August

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

According to China’s foreign exchange reserves data released on Saturday by the Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose unexpectedly rose by US$3.5 billion in August vs. the previous month to US$3.1072 trillion.

Meanwhile, its gold reserves were ramped up to 62.45 million fine troy ounces at the end of August, up 4.85% from 59.56 million ounces at the end of last year.

The value of its gold reserves rose to US$95.45 billion at the end of August from US$87.876 billion at the end of July

The surge in the forex reserves comes despite a sharp drop in the Chinese currency last month amid escalating US-China trade row.

“In August, the yuan fell by about 3.8 per cent against the dollar – its sharpest monthly drop since China unified official and market exchange rates in 1994. It is currently trading at 11½ year lows”, South China Morning Post (SCMP) cites.

On the data release, China’s foreign exchange regulator – the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), noted the following:

The increase in August was due to the country maintaining a stable balance of international payments and generally stable economic growth.

Bond prices in major countries also rose.

The Aussie dollar trades modestly flat so far this Monday, with AUD/USD up and down near 0.6850 region amid dismal Chinese trade numbers and solid Australian lending data.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD pops to yearly highs near 1.1770

EUR/USD rapidly reverses course and hits fresh YTD tops near 1.1780 at the end of the week. The pair’s U-turn comes on the back of the intense sell-off in the Greenback amid the generalised risk-on context.

GBP/USD climbs to four-month tops near 1.3600

GBP/USD is building on its solid weekly advance and is pushing toward the 1.3600 hurdle on Friday, or new four-month peaks. Cable’s strong move higher comes as the Greenback intensifies its decline, while auspicious results on the UK calendar also collaborate with the uptrend.

Gold picks up pace, approaches $5,000

Gold prices keep their uptrend well in place and gear up for an imminent hit to the key $5,000 mark per troy ounce on Friday. The yellow metal’s sharp advance gathers pace amid the increasing weakness in the US Dollar and mixed US Treasury yields across the curve.