Top consumer China's net gold imports via main conduit Hong Kong rose 15.8 percent in October to the highest in three months, data showed on Thursday, as the price of the metal touched a four-month low during that month. Spot gold extended losses in October, hitting a nine-month trough at below $1,200 an ounce on Thursday as the US dollar strengthened on growing expectations that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates in December.
Net gold imports rose to 61.075 tonnes last month, the most since July, from 52.762 tonnes in September, according to data emailed to Reuters by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. Total imports rose to 67.165 tonnes from 64.826 tonnes in September. The price of gold has dropped 11 percent from a high of $1,337.40 per ounce, hit on November 9, shortly after Republican Donald Trump's election as the next US president.
The metal has been hit by expectations that Trump's policies will boost growth of the world's biggest economy along with strong US data that support the case for a rate hike next month. China does not provide trade data on gold and the Hong Kong figures serve as a proxy for flows to the mainland.
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