IMF - Sells 2 Metric Tons of Gold to the Bank of Mauritius

[fliped42]

Re: IMF - Sells 2 Metric Tons of Gold to the Bank of Mauritius

There is this little bit of curiosity/co-incidence that was posted on Lemetropole last night

"
Hi Bill:
Something curious going on here:

Besides the purchase by India of 200 tonnes of IMF Gold there have been two other recent announcements of Central Bank Gold purchases. Sri Lanka purchased 5.3 tonnes of Gold. Here is part of the announcement:

"Weerasinghe did not disclose from which sources the bank was buying the gold or at what prices. He gave no breakdown of how much of the country's more than $5 billion in foreign reserves were held in gold. A senior source close to the central bank said the gold purchases were part of moves to smooth periods of dollar volatility and the amount bought was in the neighbourhood of 5.3 tonnes as of September."
What's curious is that according to the IMF the Sri Lankan Central Bank bullion reserves BEFORE the announcement were listed as 5.3 tonnes!
Then we have the purchase by Mauritius of two tonnes of IMF Gold announced today. Once again according to the IMF the Mauritius Central Bank had bullion reserves BEFORE this purchase of 1.9 tonnes!
So two Central Banks purchase IMF Gold in amounts that effectively double their previous holdings. Or is it possible these "purchases" replace Gold that was leased out by them and cannot now be returned? We'll have to watch the next IMF report to see how their Reserves are listed.
Cheers from Auckland,
Ed Wener
Love it Ed. What are the odds the amount of central bank gold sold to these two countries would be the exact amount, and so close to the exact amount, of their existing gold reserves?"

Short Covering?

[jiimbergin]

Re: IMF - Sells 2 Metric Tons of Gold to the Bank of Mauritius

Has anyone else noticed how low the premium on GTU has gotten. It is now at 1.6% in US$ and 1.9% in CDN$:confused: I know it varies a lot, but this is about as low as I have seen it.

[Jay]

Re: IMF - Sells 2 Metric Tons of Gold to the Bank of Mauritius

Has anyone else noticed how low the premium on GTU has gotten. It is now at 1.6% in US$ and 1.9% in CDN$:confused: I know it varies a lot, but this is about as low as I have seen it.

I bought some today partially because of it.

[jiimbergin]

Re: IMF - Sells 2 Metric Tons of Gold to the Bank of Mauritius

I bought some today partially because of it.

So did I. I also bought some yesterday partly because I thought the premium was really good. I did not realize how much better it would be today. I have sold call options on all of my GLD and am replacing it by addtional GTU and CEF, whose premium is also at the low end of where it has been.