Daily Gold Update

Source: Bloomberg

Paris— Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer said an accord between 15 European central banks limiting gold sales should probably take into account planned sales of the metal by the International Monetary Fund. �In coming years, we will probably have to take into account gold sales of the IMF� agreed to by the Group of 20 leaders earlier this month, Noyer, whose also a council member of the European Central Bank, told the press in Paris today.

The IMF�s board a year ago approved plans to sell 403.3 metric tons of bullion to shrink the Washington-based lender�s annual deficit. A decision to sell gold requires the backing of 85 percent of the IMF�s executive board and would be subject to U.S. Congressional approval. The group of 15 European central banks including the Bank of France have pledged to sell no more than 500 metric tons of bullion in the five years through September 2009. Noyer declined to speculate further on what the new pact might be. The Bank of France sold 103 tons of gold last year, bringing the total sales to 516 tons over the past four years, and reducing bank�s gold reserves to 2,491 tons, Noyer said today. That leaves rooms for more sales this year as the bank had pledged to sell as much as 600 tons of bullion over the period of the gold-sale pact. See full story.