CHINA added nearly 14 tons of gold to its foreign exchange reserves in October, the slowest pace of purchase since the central bank started reporting its reserves of the precious metal on a monthly basis earlier this year.

    Gold reserves stood at 55.38 million troy ounces at the end of October, up from 54.93 million at the end of September, data from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) showed yesterday.

    The 450,000-ounce addition amounts to 13.99 tons, close to the Reuters estimate of 14 tons calculated earlier last month from PBOC data and the spot gold price.

    The central bank has been adding between 14 tons and 19 tons of gold every month, a healthy appetite as the country looks to diversify its foreign exchange reserves.

    The PBOC usually announces the dollar value of its gold reserve early in the month, before revealing the volume later.

    In June, China provided details on its gold holdings for the first time since April 2009.

    It has been providing monthly updates since then to increase transparency as it campaigns to include the yuan in the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights basket.

    (SD-Agencies)