Europe’s central banks are $40bn poorer than they might have been after they followed a British move 10 years ago to shrink the Bank of England’s gold reserves, according to an FT analysis. London’s decision on May 7 1999 to sell must of its gold reserves in favour of assets such as government bonds marked the peak of so-called “anti-gold” sentiment among European central banks. At the time, gold was worth around $280 an ounce, less than a third of its current level of more than $900.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 4:59 and is filed under Capital markets, Commodities. Edit this entry.