Mysterious “whale” embarrasses gold markets, research report suggests purchases by large central banks – Bloomberg

A normally dry research report rocked the gold market this week. He signaled a large-scale purchase by the central bank. The central bank of the country or region has not yet been identified.

The central bank bought 399 tons of gold in the third quarter, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). This is almost double the previous record. Just under 25% of those purchases were made by publicly identified institutions, sparking speculation about the mysterious buyer.

Most central banks notify the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when they buy gold to supplement their foreign exchange reserves, but some prefer to keep it secret. Few buyers will be able to execute the remaining 75% of bulk purchases, but that should be enough to mitigate the blow to investors selling gold after US interest rates rise.

“Given all this selling pressure, it was somewhat surprising that gold hasn’t fallen that much,” said Ross Norman, chief executive officer of the precious metals website Metals Daily. “But now I think I know the answer,” he said.