China's biggest brokerage sees gold price at record highs this year

(Kitco News) Citic Securities - China's biggest publicly traded brokerage - is looking at gold hitting record highs this year, citing central banks' gold buying as one of the most reliable bullish signals.

One of the central banks that surprised the gold market at the end of last year was China. The People's Bank of China purchased 32 tons of gold in November — its first officially recorded purchase since September 2019. That was followed up with another purchase of 30 tons of gold in December. China's gold reserves now total 2,010 tons.

And China is not the only one buying. Central banks began looking at gold in the second half of last year and bought nearly 400 tons in the third quarter of 2022. This marked a 300% jump from the same period a year ago, according to the World Gold Council (WGC) report.

Based on the latest data, central banks purchased 673 tons of gold in the first three quarters of last year, outpacing total annual purchases since 1967 — when the U.S. dollar was still backed by gold.