"RBI Has Not Sold Any Gold": Central Bank On Reports It Traded Yellow Metal

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Sunday that it had not sold any gold and was not trading in the yellow metal. The statement from the central bank in a series of tweets came in the wake of media reports stating that it had been selling its gold reserves. “Reports have appeared in certain sections of media that RBI has been selling or trading in gold of late,” the central bank said in one of the posts on Twitter. 

The RBI said that the fluctuation in the values depicted in its Weekly Statistical Supplement was due to the change in frequency of revaluation from monthly to weekly. The fluctuation was based on international prices of gold and exchange rates, the Reserve Bank of India added.

In its Weekly Statistical Supplement report released on October 25, the Reserve Bank of India said its gold reserves stood at Rs 1,91,215 crore ($26,861 million) as of October 18. That marked an increase of 0.49 per cent - or Rs 938 crore ($82 million) - compared to the week ended October 11.

The media reports cited the RBI's Weekly Statistical Supplement (WSS) data according to which the central bank bought gold worth $5.1 billion and sold about $1.15 billion of its gold reserves, according to news agency ANI.

The central bank releases periodic data on its balance sheet and forex reserves (including gold coins and bullion) on a weekly basis.

The country's total foreign exchange reserves swelled by Rs 13,185 crore - or $1.039 billion - to a life-time high of $440.751 billion in the week ended October 18, from a record $439.712 billion in the previous week.