SINGAPORE – Singapore will study the possibility of bringing the gold benchmark pricing in London to users in Asia, in a move that would also allow market participants in the world’s top consuming region to help set the price of bullion.
Home to the world’s biggest buyers China and India, Asia’s importance has been on the rise as the key source of demand for gold, but bullion traders in the region are often exposed to intraday price volatility and overnight foreign exchange risks with benchmark prices currently being set out of London.
The Singapore Bullion Market Association, London Bullion Market Association and Intercontinental Exchange Benchmark Administration (IBA) will launch a joint feasibility study on the development of “LBMA pre-AM gold price at 2 pm Singapore time”, Lim Hng Kiang, minister for trade and industry and deputy chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, told an industry conference on Monday.
The study “is an important first step towards establishing a U.S. dollar price discovery mechanism for gold during Asian business hours,” said Lim. “When in place, it will facilitate the timely tracking of Asian demand and allow participants in Asia to settle their trades within the same business day.”
Singapore in January 2014 dropped plans to set a daily reference price for gold shortly after European regulators investigated manipulation of precious metals prices by banks.
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