Now Reading: Bank of Korea buys gold ETF, first investment in 13 years
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Bank of Korea buys gold ETF, first investment in 13 years
The Bank of Korea bought shares of SPDR Gold Shares worth about $250 million in the second quarter, its first gold-linked investment since 2013. The central bank held no such shares three…
The Story in Brief
The Bank of Korea bought shares of SPDR Gold Shares worth about $250 million in the second quarter, its first gold-linked investment since 2013. The central bank held no such shares three months earlier. The investment is classified as a security and forms part of foreign-exchange reserves, not official bullion holdings. Central banks globally bought a record 289 tonnes of gold in the June quarter, but the BOK's physical stockpile has stayed at 104.4 tonnes since 2013. Earlier this month, the BOK said it would set up a framework to buy gold refined in South Korea for the first time in nearly 60 years.
The Indian Opinion
The narrative that central banks are rushing into gold is overblown. The Bank of Korea's $250 million ETF purchase is a small, liquid hedge, not a return to physical hoarding. Some may frame this as de-dollarisation, but Seoul is simply diversifying reserves. The real test will be whether the bank actually buys domestic physical gold under its new framework, or if this remains a paper-only move.
Source: livemint.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
