Commodity Online

MUMBAI: Do you know who holds major part of gold reserves in the world? And who decides whether to take up the gold price or not.

The Gold prices have been floating on currency market surface. Whenever dollar surges up, the gold prices start to swing losing the balance to stand firm.

Central banks around the world are major holders of gold, but over time, their holdings are falling as they diversify their reserve assets out of gold into income producing investments.

Central banks and international organizations such as the IMF hold around one fifth of global above ground stocks of gold as a reserve asset.

Although a number of central banks have increased their gold reserves over the past decade, the sector as a whole has been a net seller, contributing an average of 562 tonnes to annual supply flows between 2001 and 2005, according to the World Gold Council. ...

The US is the world's biggest official holder of gold, at 8135 tonnes at the end of 2007, and it hasn't been selling.

Unlike most central banks, the US Federal Reserve holds the bulk of its official reserves or close to 80 per cent in gold. That's because it can't hold its own US dollar assets as official reserves.

Gold