The gold price is trading largely unchanged at around $1,210 per troy ounce this morning. As expected, the publication of the minutes of the latest meeting of the US Federal Reserve contained nothing new. Although the reasons why the US economy got off to a weak start this year were discussed, as were the effects of the strong US dollar, the FOMC members did not appear unduly concerned.
The Fed will continue to make interest rate hikes dependent on the data situation. The uncertainty over whether and when the Fed will raise interest rates is likely to keep the gold price in check for the time being. The ongoing ETF outflows will presumably also prevent any noticeable increase in the gold price.
Holdings of gold ETFs tracked by Bloomberg were reduced by an additional 3.3 tons yesterday, putting total outflows since the beginning of the month at 22 tons. Demand for coins is also very subdued at present, sales of US gold coins so far in May equalling only a quarter of the volume sold in the entire month of May last year.
The Russian central bank continued to top up its gold reserves in April. As it announced yesterday, it purchased around 9.3 tons of gold last month. The central bank had resumed its gold buying in March (31 tons) after purchasing no gold in January or February. Average monthly purchases so far this year amount to 10 tons.
