China held 72.80 million ounces of gold at the end of April, up from 72.74 million ounces a month before, the data showed. The value of China’s gold reserves rose to $167.96 billion from $161.07 billion.

Demand from global central banks for gold has been elevated for two years, supporting prices.

The World Gold Council expects global central banks to slow purchases in 2024 compared to last year’s 1,037.4 tons but to keep them higher than they were before 2022.

The People’s Bank of China was the largest official sector buyer of gold in 2023 with net purchases of 7.23 million ounces, or 224.9 metric tons, according to the World Gold Council, the most for a single year since at least 1977.

(By Brijesh Patel and Polina Devitt; Editing by Christina Fincher)