gold purchase

U.S. Mint runs out

Yesterday there were two headlines of interest. One of which was about gold.

(Reuters) - The U.S. mint sold 190,000 1-ounce American Eagle gold coins in May, the largest number since January 1999, and the most in any month so far in 2010, according to a spokesman for the U.S. agency.

The other news article was about silver.

The United States Mint’s bullion 2010 American Silver Eagles posted their best May and second best sales month in history, according to the most recent figures available from the Mint.
In just the one month, buyers purchased an astonishing 3,636,500 of the one ounce .999 fine silver coins. This number smashes the old May record of 1,904,500 set last year.
May 2010 sales fell short of the best month ever by only 59,500.

So with all that gold and silver leaving the mint, I guess today's bulletins aren't really all that surprising.

India central bank buys 200 tonnes of IMF gold

When the IMF announced the coming sale of 403 tonnes of its gold, after nearly a decade of threatening to do it, some expected China to purchase a little off-market. Almost no one expected India to make a major move.

The International Monetary Fund has sold 200 tonnes of gold to the Reserve Bank of India for $6,7 billion, quietly executing half of a long-planned bullion sale that has threatened to slow gold’s ascent.
The deal, which surprised traders who expected China to be the most likely buyer, will relieve the gold market of some uncertainty over how and when the IMF would sell 403,3 tonnes of gold, about one-eighth of its total stock. The deal will increase India’s gold holdings to the tenth largest among central banks.