Bank of Korea (BoK) said on Monday it will, for the first time in 13 years,
purchase domestically refined gold via OTC transactions with LS MnM, the Korea
Exchange (KRX) and the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). LS MnM and Korea Zinc
produce about 40–45 tonnes of gold annually, roughly 10% of which is exported;
the BoK said it could use KRX trading/settlement and KSD warehousing for gold
originally earmarked for export if firms request. Purchases will be arranged as
pre‑negotiated block trades to limit impact on domestic gold prices, and local
sourcing should reduce FX risk versus prior dollar‑denominated overseas buys;
the BoK also bought a small amount of gold ETFs in Q2. BoK gold holdings were
unchanged at 104.4 tonnes as of July; end‑June foreign‑exchange reserves stood
at $427.36 billion, including $4.79 billion in gold.
