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China held back on buying gold for its reserves for a fifth straight month

The country's foreign exchange reserves - the world's largest - grew by US$28.2 billion (HK$220 billion) to US$3.316 trillion last month.

Meanwhile, gold holdings remained unchanged at 72.8 million ounces at the end of last month. The value of the gold reserves, however, rose to US$191.47 billion from US$182.98 billion.

Global central banks currently hold some 1.16 billion ounces of gold that are collectively worth in excess of US$3 trillion.

It now accounts for just under a fifth of the total US$15.45 trillion worth of gold and foreign exchange reserves held by the world’s central banks.

The US dollar accounts for US$6.7 trillion, or 43 per cent of gold and foreign exchange reserves.

Coming in at a distant second place is gold (19.8 per cent), followed by the euro (14.7 per cent), the Japanese yen (4.2 per cent), the British pound (3.7 per cent), the Canadian dollar (1.9 per cent), the Australian dollar (1.7 per cent) and the Chinese renminbi (1.6 per cent).

Gold’s share in central bank reserves has risen because central banks have bought 305 million ounces in the past 15 years.