China ramped up its Gold reserves by 5% in August

According to China’s foreign exchange reserves data released on Saturday by the Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose unexpectedly rose by US$3.5 billion in August vs. the previous month to US$3.1072 trillion.

Meanwhile, its  gold reserves were ramped up to 62.45 million fine troy ounces at the end of August, up 4.85% from 59.56 million ounces at the end of last year.

The value of its gold reserves rose to US$95.45 billion at the end of August from US$87.876 billion at the end of July    

The surge in the forex reserves comes despite a sharp drop in the Chinese currency last month amid escalating US-China trade row.

“In August, the yuan fell by about 3.8 per cent against the dollar – its sharpest monthly drop since China unified official and market exchange rates in 1994. It is currently trading at 11 ½ year lows”, South China Morning Post (SCMP) cites.

On the data release, China’s foreign exchange regulator – the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), noted the following:

The increase in August was due to the country maintaining a stable balance of international payments and generally stable economic growth.

Bond prices in major countries also rose.

The Aussie dollar trades modestly flat so far this Monday, with AUD/USD up and down near 0.6850 region amid dismal Chinese trade numbers and solid Australian lending data.