London gold market weighs earlier auction to suit Asian traders

The London Bullion Market Association is considering moving its morning gold auction to an earlier time to accommodate traders in Asia.

The potential shift would be “to reflect and to allow price discovery within the Asian time frame,” LBMA chief executive officer Ruth Crowell said on Monday. This is “something that I know the market has asked for for many years, but I think it comes at the right time,” she told the Asia-Pacific Precious Metal Conference in Singapore.

Crowell did not specify a new time or times under consideration, or say when the possible change might occur.

The LBMA Gold Price is currently set twice daily, at 10:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. London time, in US dollars on an electronic platform. The price is the benchmark used by miners, refiners, investors and central banks worldwide.

A daily London pricing auction was first introduced in 1919, with a second, afternoon auction added in 1968 to reflect growth in the US market. The current benchmarks replaced the old London Gold Fix, a telephone-based system that was discontinued in 2015.

The potential shift to an earlier London auction underscores the growing weight of Asian demand in the global bullion market. Gold has been thrust into the spotlight as geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainties drive central banks and investors toward the metal as a safe haven, with the spot price soaring to a record earlier high this year before retreating after the outbreak of the US-Iran war.

(By Yihui Xie and Preeti Soni)