SINGAPORE: Russia increased its gold holdings for a fifth straight month in August, while Kazakhstan raised its holdings by more than half a million ounces, data from the International Monetary Fund showed on Thursday.

Russia, the fifth-largest bullion holder, added 232,510.206 ounces of gold in August to bring its total to 35.769 million ounces, according to data on the IMF's website.

Kazakhstan boosted its gold holdings by 795,213.655 ounces last month to 5.848 million ounces.

Turkey and Azerbaijan were among the other countries that added to their holdings.

Copyright Reuters, 2014