Buenos Aires, January 30 (NA) – The Central Bank's reserves experienced a sharp drop on the last day of January. This was due to a 9% fall in the price of gold and the usual end-of-period adjustments by financial institutions, which are then reversed on Monday. Nevertheless, the Central Bank achieved its 20th consecutive buying round, accumulating purchases of over $1.100 billion during the first month of the year. Reserves plummeted by more than $1.700 billion and fell below the $45.000 billion mark, a direct result of the sharp decline in gold's value. The monetary authority bought $23 million this Friday, closing the week with a positive balance of $179 million, while in January it accumulated a gain of $1.157 billion. Despite the Central Bank's purchases under its reserve accumulation program, gross international reserves closed this Friday at $44.502 billion, as reserves fell by $1.738 billion. However, the monthly balance of assets ended January with an increase of $3.337 billion. Accompanying the asset accumulation program, bonds accumulated gains during January, despite marginal declines in the last two trading days of the month.
