China’s central bank added 650,000 troy ounces, or roughly 20 tonnes, to its gold reserves in August, the largest monthly purchase since October 2023. The increase exceeded July’s 640,000 ounces and extended the People’s Bank of China’s buying streak to 22 consecutive months, the longest since China began disclosing monthly figures. Holdings rose to 76.73 million troy ounces from 76.08 million in July. The reported value of the reserves climbed to $350.08 billion from $306.35 billion, with most of the increase reflecting gold’s price gain rather than newly purchased metal. Gold accounts for close to 10% of China’s roughly $3.4 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves, below the 60% to 70% share held by the Federal Reserve and other major Western central banks. The purchases reflect a long-term reserve strategy shaped partly by the freezing of roughly $300 billion in Russian central-bank reserves after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Globally, central banks added a record 288.9 tonnes in the second quarter, according to the World Gold Council, led by Poland with 51 tonnes. Gold rose nearly 10% in August after the US Treasury said it would at least double buybacks of long-dated bonds to $4 billion per operation, but the so-called debasement trade later cooled. The metal traded near $4,395 to $4,428 an ounce as stronger-than-expected US jobs data lifted the odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike at the Sept. 15-16 meeting to nearly 60%, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.