BEIJING--The Shanghai Gold Exchange will launch its
international board on Thursday night, a bourse official said.
The yuan-denominated board, to be launched in Shanghai's new
free-trade zone, is aimed at encouraging foreign participation in
China's tightly controlled gold market. China is the world's
largest producer and consumer of the precious metal, but sees
itself as lacking sufficient clout in global pricing platforms.
Exchange leaders including its chairman and vice president said
at an industry conference last week that the launch was scheduled
for Sept. 29, but a bourse media official said Thursday the date
had been brought forward. The official didn't say why, but analysts
say preparations for the board appear to have already been largely
in place by this week. The gold exchange is a unit of the country's
central bank.
The board will have 40 members in its initial batch, including
Goldman Sachs Group, HSBC Bank PLC, Standard Chartered PLC and UBS
AG, the exchange's vice president Shen Gang said last week. It will
initially offer 11 contracts, but may diversify into other precious
metals including silver and palladium in the future, Ms. Shen
said.
The launch comes at a time of weak gold prices amid strong U.S.
economic data and weak inflationary pressures world-wide. Comex
gold reached $1223.7 an ounce Thursday morning during Asian hours,
down 2% from a week ago.
Traders expect the international board will broaden the global
use of the yuan and help to simplify how gold is brought into the
country, though it isn't likely to drastically loosen state control
over gold trade flows.
The bourse didn't confirm an exact time for the launch of trade
on the international board, but traders say it is likely to be at 8
p.m.
Write to Chuin-Wei Yap at chuin-wei.yap@wsj.com
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