Russia
and Kazakhstan expanded
their gold holdings in December, seeking to diversify their reserves
as the metal capped a 12th annual advance and investors raised
holdings to an all-time high.
Russian
holdings climbed 2.1 percent to 957.8 metric tons in December, taking
the increase over 2012 to 8.5 percent, according to data on the
International Monetary Fund’s website. Kazakhstan’s hoard
expanded 1.7 percent to 115.3 tons last month, and surged 41 percent
over the year, the data showed.
Bullion
has rallied as investors sought a haven from weaker currencies and
potential inflation, with governments from the U.S.
to Europe and Japan ramping
up stimulus to promote faster growth. Gold holdings
in exchange-traded
products reached
a record last month. Prices will rally this year and into 2014 on
central banks’ stimulus measures, according to Morgan Stanley.
Central
banks need to “diversify into gold as the euro
zone is
not yet out of the woods,” said Lynette Tan, a senior investment
analyst at Phillip Futures Pte. in Singapore.
“This will provide long-term support for gold
prices.”
Gold
for immediate delivery climbed as much as 0.2 percent to $1,661.45 an
ounce and was at $1,660.40 at 1:11 p.m. in Singapore. The price
increased 7.1 percent last year, the smallest annual gain since 2008.
The precious metal reached a record $1,921.15 an ounce in September
2011 as Europe’s debt crisis stoked speculation that the euro zone
may fragment.
