China Wants to Steal Gold-Market ‘Reins’ from New York, London

• China wants to steal gold-market ‘reins’ from New York, London
  by Myra P. Saefong, http://www.marketwatch.com/  
  China has been making it very clear that it wants more control over the global gold market, but it’ll have to go through New York and London first.
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  “Given that China is the epicenter of the physical gold market, it does make sense that the Chinese government would want its physical Shanghai gold market to supplant the Comex derivative market (and others) as the primary global price-setting mechanism,” said Anthem Blanchard, chief executive officer of online precious-metal retailer Anthem Vault.
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  China is, after all, the world’s largest producer and one of the biggest buyers of the metal, often running neck and neck with India as the globe’s top consumer.
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  Last month, the Bank of China became the first Chinese bank to join the group of lenders that set the London Bullion Market Association’s gold price benchmark, and two more Chinese banks are reportedly working to become members.
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  “This will allow Chinese banks to participate in the gold market on a global basis,” said Julian Phillips, founder of and contributor to GoldForecaster.com. 
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  The LBMA Gold Price replaced the historic London Gold Fix in March. New York and London have generally been the hubs for setting gold prices. But with “so little gold going through Comex in physical terms, this is a distortion of demand and supply as it only reflects the trading picture of speculators in New York,” said Phillips. He noted that only 5% of contracts are delivered on Comex after notice has been given of this intention.
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  “Control over the gold price is exercised in New York and London, leaving China at the mercy of those two centers,” he said. So despite China’s huge presence in the physical market, it hasn’t had much control over the global gold price.
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