From the final section of a Bloomberg...

From the final section of a Bloomberg article
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602013&sid=aI_9gKo8s2P8&refer=commodity_futures

Central Bank Sales

Gold sales also have slowed from central banks, the world's largest holders. Sales plunged 87 percent to 23 tons in the third quarter, the council said. Banks covered by the Central Bank Gold Agreement sold 357 tons of gold through September this year, the lowest since 1999.

That year, several central banks signed a five-year accord limiting gold sales to help stabilize the market. A second agreement, which runs to Sept. 26, permitted a quota of 500 tons a year.

``You may find that some of those central banks are done with the selling,'' Milling-Stanley said.

The People's Bank of China is considering increasing its gold reserves by 4,000 tons from 600 tons, Guangzhou Daily reported, citing unidentified industry participants in Hong Kong.

The move by China's central bank is designed to diversify the risk of holding massive foreign-exchange reserves, the newspaper reported today on its Web site.

China surpassed Japan in September to become the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries. The country now has close to $600 billion. China is the ninth biggest holder of gold reserves among central banks.