July 23, 2012

By Frank Homes, CEO and Chief Investment Officer, U.S. Global Investors

So when you thought the investment case for gold was all over in March with no imminent Quantitative Easing 3 coming from the Fed, guess who was buying gold? – Central banks who fully understand you can't park your reserves in the currencies of countries that are mired in an endless wall of debt. Overall, central banks apparently purchased no less than 58 tonnes in March. The three largest buyers were Mexico, which increased its holdings by 16.81 tonnes to a total of 122.58 tons, Russia with purchases of 16.55 tons giving it total reserves of 895.75 tons, and Turkey with 11.48 tons taking it to 209.6 tonnes in reserves. Some suggest an acceleration in central bank purchases could continue throughout the year as first quarter economic growth numbers are looking a bit flaccid. Last year, central banks bought 439.7 tonnes of gold, the biggest annual increase in almost five decades.

Source: This was excerpted from U.S. Global Investors' Investor Alert, April 27, 2012, www.usfunds.com.

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