Central banks bought 534.6 metric tons of the precious metal last year – the most since 1964 – led by Russia, Brazil and Iraq. Net purchases by central banks accounted for 12 percent of overall demand in 2012, compared with a 10 percent share in 2011. "Countries actively adding to their official gold holdings remains heavily concentrated in developing markets, which partly reflects the scale of growth in the reserves of these markets over recent years," WGC wrote its latest quarterly report on gold demand trends. "As the official reserves of these countries swell, with their heavy emphasis on U.S. dollar and ... (full story)