Those familiar with China’s gold buying patterns are all too aware that Beijing has made similar moves in the past. After keeping radio-silent since 2009, Beijing shocked the market in 2015 when it disclosed it had boosted gold holdings by about 600 tonnes. It has not reported any activity since September 2019.

“China likely bought a substantial amount of gold from Russia,” added market analyst Itsuo Toshima. According to Toshima, the People’s Bank of China likely bought a portion of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation’s gold holdings of over 2,000 tonnes.