Expert: Cbank data shows Russian banks sell gold as price falls

MOSCOW, Nov 21 (PRIME) -- Gold stocks in vaults of Russian banks contracted by 20.4%, or by 17.8 tonnes in October to 69.2 tonnes as of November 1 due to contraction of the gold price, Maxim Osadchy, director of the analytical department at Corporate Finance Bank, told PRIME on Monday citing data of the central bank.

Top bank Sberbank’s gold reserves contracted by 27.1% in the month to 22.1 tonnes as of November 1, and reserves of the country’s second largest bank VTB Bank decreased 17.5% to 37.1 tonnes. Gold reserves of Otkritie Financial Corporation (FC) Bank went down 17.9% to 4.8 tonnes.

Osadchy said that the maximum price for gold of U.S. $1,366 per troy ounce was reached in July, and after that the price fell to $1,316 as of October 1 and to $1,288 as of November 1. “The majority of domestic banks are actively selling the cheap gold. Expectations of a key rate increase by the Federal Reserve System also support a decrease of the oil price,” he said.

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