IMF Gold Assets Fall 16.85 Tons as Russia Adds to its Holdings

From Business Week: The International Monetary Fund’s gold reserves fell by 16.85 metric tons in July as Russia added 16.2 tons to its holdings, according to figures from the Washington-based lender.

Reserves of gold at the IMF were 2,917.07 tons at the end of July, compared with 2,933.92 tons a month earlier, data on the IMF’s website show. Russia increased holdings to 726.02 tons last month from 709.81 tons, according to the figures.

The IMF plans to sell a total of 403.3 tons of gold. India, Mauritius and Sri Lanka bought 212 tons last year, and the IMF in February said it would begin selling the remainder on the open market.

Central banks have increased holdings and gold-backed exchange-traded fund assets owned by investors yesterday climbed to the highest since at least 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Gold for immediate delivery traded at $1,249.15 an ounce at 8:06 a.m. in London. Prices climbed to a record $1,265.30 on June 21.