Recent statistics from the World Gold Council indicate that central bank demand for gold has surged in the last year. According to Wells Fargo’s real asset strategist John LaForge, silver may be outpacing gold, signaling a potential bull market for precious metals.
Global Central Banks Accumulate Large Gold Reserves, China Purchases 32 Tons
The end of the year saw precious metals such as silver and gold increase in value. On November 3, 2022, one troy ounce of 0.999 fine silver was traded at $19.45, while one troy ounce of 0.999 fine gold sold for $19.45. Fast forward two months and silver is up 11.48% to $1.816 per ounce, while gold has risen 23.29% against the US Dollar to $23.98 an ounce.
Data from the World Gold Council shows that central banks have been stocking up on gold at an unprecedented rate. China recently purchased 1.03 million ounces of fine gold, equivalent to 32 tons, according to reports from the State Administration Of Foreign Exchange Of China. This is the first purchase of its kind in three years, and is estimated to have cost the country around $1.8 billion.
China has an estimated 63.67 million ounces of gold, valued at around $112 billion. Bullionvault’s head of research Adrian Ash told Financial Times (FT) reporter Harry Dempsey that the flight of central banks to gold could suggest “the geopolitical backdrop is one of mistrust, doubt and uncertainty.” Smaller central banks such as Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Qatar have also been accumulating large quantities of gold.
Wells Fargo Analyst Predicts Silver May Outperform Gold By 2023
Wells Fargo’s Head of real asset strategy John LaForge recently spoke with Kitco News on Dec. 29, expressing that he is “a bit more positive on silver now that we’re back at $23.” LaForge believes that the high beta game of silver is signaling a bull market for precious metals. “When silver starts to beat gold, it is closer to a bull market in precious metals than the other way around,” he said.
The executive thinks that gold will cost between $1,900 and $2,000 by 2023 and is more optimistic about silver. “During a supercycle, which is more than 10 years, in percentage terms, silver performs better than gold,” he explained. “That is what happened during the last cycle between 1999 and 2011. That is typical. You can feel that gold wants to go up next year. Gold had a difficult two and a half years.”
“In the last couple of months, with all the talk about the Fed pivot, gold started to pick up. Next year, both gold and silver will be fine. Silver could do even better,” LaForge concluded. Platinum has also seen a significant increase, rising from $915 per ounce 56 days ago to $1,051 per ounce today.
