I have a couple of questions, raised after reading a couple of articles about China possibly buying more gold for it's reserves. We've also seen similar articles about the Gulf States doing that as well (mind you I have no idea why Florida, Louisianna, Alabama and Texas would want more gold? :)

Does anyone know if these would be taken as paper or physical assets?

Does anyone know how they might aquire it? The gold market is very small... how would they do it without driving the price way beyond it's current price... The recent article suggests that it's a good time for China to buy with prices in the $720 dollar range. Obviously if they buy anywhere near the quantity the article suggests it would drive gold up to the $7200 dollar range and I don't think they want to do that.

Does anyone know the stats on how much physical gold is sold each year? How much of that is traded through the COMEX?