Russia’s central bank announced Sunday that it would add more gold to its reserves as a way to hedge against economic sanctions placed by Western nations. Russia currently possesses the fifth largest gold reserve in the world and is intending to grow its stockpile due to pressure by newly imposed sanctions that have brought down the value of the ruble significantly. The US and its allies have also removed several Russian banks from SWIFT’s banking system which will prohibit the banks from transferring currency internationally with members of the system.
Russia’s recent announcement has pushed gold to higher prices, with some investors expecting the price of gold to break the $2,000 an oz mark soon. Goldman Sachs estimates that the price target of gold will soon hit $2,150 an oz. “Gold’s unique role as the currency of last resort will likely be apparent if restrictions on Russia’s central bank accessing its offshore reserves leave it leveraging its large domestic gold stockpiles to continue foreign trade, most likely with China,” a Goldman analyst said.
Gold jumped 0.73% to $1,931.20 per ounce. Silver grew 1.95% to $25.06 per ounce. Platinum spiked 0.58% to $1,065.90 per ounce, while Palladium increased 4.59% to $2,737.50 per ounce. Bitcoin rose 1.51% to $43,851.50.
Comments
Log in or sign up to join the conversation.