All five Shanghai Gold Exchange precious metals contracts tracked in this series closed higher in the week to Friday 6 November, reversing the previous week's broad sell-off, with platinum recovering 4.36% after the 7.88% fall we reported seven days ago. Beneath the prices, two developments carry more weight than the rebound itself: the People's Bank of China reported a 25.8-tonne addition to gold reserves in October, roughly 2.25 times its pace over the preceding nine months, and Chinese silver social inventory fell, reversing the build we reported in the previous edition.
Key findings
- All five SGE contracts tracked in this series rose on the week, with platinum Pt99.95 up 4.36% to ¥372.45 a gram and silver Ag99.99 up 2.32% to ¥12,528 a kilogram.
- Pt99.95 rose 6.03% in the single session of Thursday 5 November, more than the whole week's net gain, having closed at ¥354.08 on the Wednesday against ¥356.89 on 30 October. SMM attributes the mid-week turn to the conclusion of the US midterm elections.
- China's reported gold reserves reached 78.30 million ounces at the end of October from 77.47 million at the end of September, an increase of about 25.8 tonnes, reported as the 24th consecutive monthly increase.
- Silver social inventory fell 67 tonnes to 3,800 tonnes, a 1.73% weekly decline that reverses the build we reported a week ago.
- US Managed Money crossed into a net platinum short of 1,283 contracts in the CFTC report released on 6 November. Those positions were held at the close of Tuesday 3 November, two sessions before platinum's Shanghai rebound.
All Five Shanghai Contracts Rose, and Platinum Rose Most
The week's closing prices reverse the previous week's direction across all five contracts, though not its magnitude in every case.
| Contract | 30 Oct | 6 Nov | Weekly change |
|---|
| Gold Au99.99 | ¥854.76/g | ¥868.57/g | +1.62% |
| Gold Au(T+D) | ¥854.58/g | ¥868.08/g | +1.58% |
| Silver Ag99.99 | ¥12,244/kg | ¥12,528/kg | +2.32% |
| Silver Ag(T+D) | ¥12,038/kg | ¥12,255/kg | +1.80% |
| Platinum Pt99.95 | ¥356.89/g | ¥372.45/g | +4.36% |
SGE official closing prices, Friday-to-Friday.
Platinum is the largest mover in both directions across the two weeks, and the arithmetic of a percentage fall followed by a percentage gain matters here. The 7.88% decline in the week to 30 October implies a starting level of approximately ¥387.42 a gram, so the 4.36% recovery leaves the contract roughly 3.9% below where it stood on 23 October. In price terms the rebound recovered just over half of the preceding fall, which is a partial reversal rather than a return to the prior level.
A separate point of arithmetic prevents a common misreading. The SGE's own published change for 6 November shows gold down 1.76% and silver down 3.08%. Those are single-session figures, not weekly ones. Gold Au99.99 fell to ¥836.08 on Monday 2 November, recovered through the middle of the week and reached ¥884.09 on Thursday before giving back 1.76% on Friday to close at ¥868.57. The week ended higher despite closing lower on its final day, and both figures are correct on their own terms.
Gold: A 25.8-Tonne Month Against an 11.5-Tonne Average
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange reported China's gold reserves at 78.30 million troy ounces at the end of October, up from 77.47 million at the end of September. The 830,000-ounce increase is approximately 25.82 tonnes and takes reported holdings to roughly 2,435 tonnes. It is reported as the 24th consecutive month in which holdings have risen.
| Indicator | Figure |
|---|
| Reported holdings, end-September | 77.47m oz |
| Reported holdings, end-October | 78.30m oz |
| Monthly change | +830,000 oz |
| Monthly change, tonnes | +25.82t |
| Reported additions, January to October | approx. 129t |
| Implied average, January to September | approx. 11.5t per month |
Tonnage converted at 31.1035 grams per troy ounce. The January to September average is derived by subtracting October's addition from the year-to-date total.
What gives the figure its weight is the comparison with the pace of the preceding months rather than the absolute number, and that comparison has to be built carefully. Reported additions for January to October total approximately 129 tonnes, but October's own 25.82 tonnes sits inside that total, so dividing it across ten months and then measuring October against the result compares the month to an average it has itself inflated. Stripping October out leaves approximately 103.2 tonnes across the preceding nine months, an average of about 11.5 tonnes a month. On that basis October's addition is roughly 2.25 times the pace of the nine months before it, and a single month accounted for about a fifth of the ten-month total.
Two constraints on interpretation apply. The reserve figure is a reported holding published monthly by the central bank, and it records what the central bank discloses rather than what it has transacted; it does not establish when any transactions occurred within the month, at what prices, or through which channels. It also says nothing about unreported holdings, a point on which the published data is simply silent. We are likewise not in a position to say whether this is the largest monthly addition since purchases resumed, because establishing that requires the full monthly series rather than the year-to-date total, and we have not verified it.
Silver: The Inventory Build Reverses
Silver carried the week's second substantive development. SMM reported Chinese social inventory at 3,800 tonnes, down 67 tonnes or 1.73% on the week, reversing the build we reported in the previous edition.
| Indicator | Level, 29 Oct | Change to 29 Oct | Latest change | Latest level |
|---|
| Social inventory | 3,867t | +33t | −67t | 3,800t |
| SGE inventory | 910t | +25t | −63.77t | not published |
| SHFE warrants | 1,372.3t | +3.6t | +8.4t | not published |
All figures as published by SMM. Absolute levels for the two exchange pools were not stated in the latest review, and the observation dates differ: the SGE change is dated 30 October and the SHFE change 5 November. See the data note.
Set against the preceding week, the useful finding is a change of direction rather than a single drawdown. Every one of the three pools was building in the week to 29 October. In the latest review, social inventory and the SGE pool have both reversed, with the SGE decline of 63.77 tonnes more than wiping out a 25-tonne build, while SHFE warrants accelerated their own build from 3.6 tonnes to 8.4. SMM's daily review of 9 November adds that SHFE warrants had begun to decline by Friday 6 November, though it gives no tonnage, so even the one pool still building at the 5 November observation had turned by the end of the week. We have not published derived levels for the two exchange pools, because the reported changes and our previous baseline are not dated to a common observation point and applying one to the other would risk double-counting a movement already captured.
The weekly price change understates how much silver actually moved. Ag(T+D) opened the week at ¥12,038 a kilogram, fell to ¥11,894 and then to ¥11,650 on Tuesday 3 November, having touched ¥11,500 intraday on the Monday. From the Tuesday close it rose to ¥12,384 and then ¥12,630 on Thursday, an 8.41% advance from trough to peak, before closing the week at ¥12,255 after a 2.97% Friday decline. The net weekly figure of plus 1.80% conceals a round trip of roughly 8% in either direction inside five sessions.
Physical market indicators point to demand that improved when prices were low and faded when they recovered. SMM described better buying early in the week followed by weaker downstream interest as the price rebounded. Shanghai spot silver traded at a ¥10 to ¥25 a kilogram discount against the SHFE 2612 contract, and the spot basis narrowed from ¥30 to ¥40 a kilogram to ¥25 to ¥30. In Hong Kong, silver ingot premiums ran between minus $0.15 and zero an ounce against LBMA, at or just below the international benchmark. SMM separately reported silver ETF holdings of 15,751.9 tonnes at 4 November, up 1.33% month on month, a monthly figure that does not describe the week.
Platinum: A One-Session Rebound, and a Short Book That Predates It
Platinum's 4.36% weekly gain was not a steady recovery. Pt99.95 closed at ¥354.08 a gram on Wednesday 4 November, slightly below its ¥356.89 close on 30 October, then rose 6.03% in the single session of Thursday 5 November to ¥375.44 before settling at ¥372.45 on the Friday. The Thursday session alone therefore exceeded the entire week's net advance, while the sessions preceding it were marginally negative. SMM attributes the mid-week turn across the precious complex to the conclusion of the US midterm elections, held on Tuesday 3 November, describing the move as a V-shaped reversal. On that reading this is a discrete repricing against an external political event rather than a sustained recovery in Chinese platinum demand, and the week's physical indicators do not suggest otherwise.
On the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, PT2612 gained 1.00% over SMM's week to 5 November, set out against palladium in the table below. In the following session SMM reported PT2612 settling at ¥369.45 in early trading, down 0.28%, with thin trading after the Thursday rebound. The spread between the SGE Pt9995 best ask and PT2612 was around ¥5 a gram, and platinum spot ran between parity and a ¥1 premium against the futures contract, unchanged on the day. Downstream orders remained subdued throughout.
The cross-market comparison with US positioning depends entirely on getting the dates right. The CFTC's Disaggregated Commitments of Traders report released on Friday 6 November showed Managed Money crossing into a net platinum short of 1,283 contracts from a net long of 1,765, after adding 3,539 gross shorts to reach 19,114. Those positions were held at the close of Tuesday 3 November. Shanghai platinum's single advancing session came on Thursday 5 November, two sessions later. The positioning data therefore does not capture the move it appears to contradict, and the apparent divergence between a US net short and a 4.36% Chinese weekly gain is partly an artefact of the observation dates. Whether US funds held that short through Thursday's repricing is not something the 6 November release can establish; the next report, scheduled for Monday 16 November as a delayed release owing to a federal holiday, covers positions as at Tuesday 10 November and will.
Palladium: The Stronger of the Two GFEX Contracts
Palladium outpaced platinum on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange over the same observation window, which is the only like-for-like comparison available between the two metals. It did not produce the largest gain in the complex, however: platinum's SGE weekly rise of 4.36% is larger than palladium's 3.12%, and the two figures sit on different exchanges and different weeks.
| Indicator | PT2612 | PD2612 |
|---|
| Previous close | ¥368.50/g | ¥235.50/g |
| 5 Nov close | ¥372.20/g | ¥242.85/g |
| Weekly change | +1.00% | +3.12% |
| Weekly high | ¥374.35/g | ¥244.45/g |
| Weekly low | ¥336.60/g | ¥214.95/g |
| September imports | 6.61t | 2.90t |
| Import change, year on year | −31.22% | −54.26% |
GFEX figures cover 30 October to 5 November and are not directly comparable with the SGE week to 6 November. See the data note.
Palladium's weekly range spans 13.7% of its low against platinum's 11.2%, so the stronger close came with the wider swing, and SMM describes the physical conditions underneath it as relatively loose. Palladium chloride rose 4.9% on the week and chloroplatinic acid 4.1%, so the chemicals chain moved with both metals rather than against them.
The import figures sit alongside this rather than explaining it. September customs data records a monthly flow two months before the week under review, so a 54.26% year-on-year decline in palladium imports does not establish what physical demand was doing during these five sessions, and futures prices over a single week reflect trading conditions and expectations rather than that month's import volumes. The same caution applies to platinum's 31.22% decline. Both figures are unchanged from our previous edition and appear here as the latest available customs observation, not as evidence about the week.
US positioning in palladium remains the most negative of the four metals in relative terms. The 6 November CFTC report showed the Managed Money net short widening 1,919 contracts to 15,216, equivalent to 49.6% of open interest, with gross shorts at 21,423 against gross longs of 6,207. As with platinum, those positions date from 3 November. A net short approaching half of outstanding contracts describes the reported balance of positions at a single observation point; it does not establish how concentrated those positions are among holders, or when they might be covered.
What Capped the Rebound
SMM's account of the week runs in two parts, and both place the drivers outside China. The mid-week reversal it attributes to the conclusion of the US midterm elections on Tuesday 3 November, which it describes as producing a V-shaped recovery across precious metals futures after the preceding decline. By Friday its reading had changed: hawkish remarks from US officials combined with a sharp sell-off in US technology stocks produced what it characterised as a liquidity shock, capping the recovery and accounting for the final session's retreat in gold, silver and platinum alike.
Taken together, that describes a week whose shape was set by US political and macro events at both ends, with Chinese physical demand neither driving the rebound nor arresting it. The inventory, premium and basis data is consistent with that: soft throughout, and softer as prices rose. SMM identifies October US non-farm payrolls, the US and Iran talks in Doha, and the divided US government as the near-term focus, all of which sit outside the Chinese data this series tracks. That is the point rather than an aside. On SMM's own account the binding constraint on Shanghai prices last week was not Chinese.
The Bottom Line
The week reversed the previous one's direction without reversing its substance. All five SGE contracts closed higher, but platinum remains roughly 3.9% below its 23 October level, its advance was concentrated in a single session that followed the US midterm result, and the physical indicators across silver, platinum and palladium describe demand that improved when prices fell and weakened when they recovered. Within the week, prices and the physical signals moved against each other, and nothing in the Chinese data accounts for the rebound.
The gold reserve figure is the development with the longest reach. A 25.82-tonne monthly addition at roughly 2.25 times the pace of the preceding nine months, in what is reported as the 24th consecutive month of increases, is a more durable signal than a week of prices, though the disclosure establishes a reported balance rather than a transaction record and cannot be read as a statement of intent.
Two things resolve shortly. Silver's three reported pools were all building a week earlier and two of them have now reversed, with the third reported as turning by Friday, so the question is whether that becomes a sustained drawdown or a pause inside a longer build. The CFTC release on Monday 16 November, covering positions as at Tuesday 10 November, will be the first to capture US platinum positioning after the 5 November repricing, and will establish whether the net short that preceded the move survived it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the SGE show gold down 1.76% when this article reports a weekly gain?
The SGE's published figure for 6 November is a single-session change. Gold Au99.99 fell 1.76% on the Friday to ¥868.57 a gram, having reached ¥884.09 on the Thursday. Measured Friday to Friday against the ¥854.76 close on 30 October, the week was up 1.62%. Both figures are accurate for the periods they describe.
Has platinum recovered its losses from the previous week?
No. The 7.88% fall in the week to 30 October was larger in price terms than the 4.36% gain that followed, so Pt99.95 remains approximately 3.9% below its 23 October close. The rebound recovered a little over half of the preceding decline.
Is the October gold addition the largest since China resumed purchases?
We have not established that. Confirming it requires the full monthly series of reported additions, which we have not verified. What the available data does support is that October's 25.82 tonnes is roughly 2.25 times the average monthly pace of the preceding nine months. That comparison strips October out of the year-to-date total before averaging, because leaving it in measures the month against a figure it has itself raised.
Why are no absolute figures given for SGE and SHFE silver inventories?
SMM published weekly changes for both pools rather than absolute levels, and the two observations are dated differently from one another and from our previous baseline. Applying a reported change to a baseline that may already contain it would risk double-counting, so this edition reports the changes as published and omits derived levels.
Does US Managed Money turning net short platinum contradict the Shanghai rebound?
Less than it first appears. The CFTC positions were held at the close of Tuesday 3 November, while platinum's Shanghai gain arrived on Thursday 5 November. The two observations describe different moments, so the divergence is substantially a function of timing rather than of the two markets disagreeing at the same point.
What does a net short of 49.6% of open interest tell us about palladium?
It describes the reported Managed Money net position as a share of all outstanding futures contracts at one observation point. It does not establish how many traders hold those positions, how concentrated they are, or whether and when they will be covered, and it is not a forecast of price direction.
Why did silver inventories fall while prices rose?
The sequence runs the other way within the week. SMM reported stronger buying early, when Ag(T+D) was near its ¥11,650 trough, and weaker downstream interest as the price recovered. The inventory decline is a weekly figure and does not resolve to a single day's price.
Are NYMEX platinum and palladium warehouse stocks covered in this edition?
No. The most recent figures available to us were identical to those published in our 2 November edition, including the reported weekly change, which indicates a repeated rather than a refreshed observation. We have omitted them rather than present last week's stocks as current.
Data Note
SGE prices are official closing prices for the stated contracts, compared Friday to Friday between 30 October and 6 November 2026. Intraweek figures are daily closes unless identified as intraday.
GFEX figures are taken from SMM's weekly review covering 30 October to 5 November 2026 and from its daily review of 6 November. Two qualifications apply. SMM's stated previous close for PT2612 of ¥368.50 a gram does not reconcile with the ¥372.70 observation we published for that contract in our previous edition, which was taken at 10:00 local time; the two GFEX weeks are therefore not directly comparable, and we have reported SMM's weekly change on its own stated basis. Separately, the PT2612 weekly low of ¥336.60 a gram sits approximately 5% below the lowest point in the SGE Pt99.95 path across the same sessions. That may reflect intraday action in the futures contract rather than a spot-futures dislocation, and we have not built any interpretation on it.
GFEX observations end on Thursday 5 November while SGE closes are to Friday 6 November. The two sets are reported separately throughout and are not combined.
The attribution of the mid-week reversal to the conclusion of the US midterm elections is SMM's characterisation in its weekly reviews of 5 November, reported here as such. We have not independently established a causal relationship between the election result and the movement in Shanghai prices.
The CFTC's published release calendar lists 16 November 2026 for the report following 6 November, marked as a delayed release owing to a federal holiday. The intervening holiday is Veterans Day on 11 November. Reports in this series otherwise appear on Fridays.
Silver inventory figures are as published by SMM in its weekly reviews of 29 October and 5 November 2026. Social inventory is stated as an absolute level in both. Absolute levels for the SGE and SHFE pools were stated in the 29 October review but not the 5 November one, which reports changes only, and the two changes are not simultaneous observations: the SGE change is dated 30 October and the SHFE change 5 November. We have therefore reported the changes as published rather than deriving levels from them. The observation that SHFE warrants had begun declining by 6 November is from SMM's daily review of 9 November, which gives no tonnage and does not supersede the quantified weekly figure. Silver ETF holdings are as SMM reports them at 4 November on a month-on-month basis; SMM does not specify which funds the figure covers.
Gold reserve figures are reported holdings published by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, converted at 31.1035 grams per troy ounce. Platinum and palladium import figures are September 2026 customs data, the latest available, and are unchanged from our previous edition.
CFTC figures are from the Disaggregated Commitments of Traders report released on Friday 6 November 2026, covering positions held at the close of Tuesday 3 November 2026, using the Managed Money classification. Spreading positions are excluded from net calculations.
NYMEX platinum and palladium warehouse stocks and lease rates are omitted from this edition for the reason given in the FAQ above.
Sources
Shanghai Gold Exchange — Daily Quotations, 30 October 2026
Shanghai Gold Exchange — Daily Quotations, 6 November 2026
State Administration of Foreign Exchange — Official Reserve Assets, 2026
State Administration of Foreign Exchange — Official Reserve Assets, Chinese-language release
Shanghai Metals Market — Silver Weekly Review, 5 November 2026
Shanghai Metals Market — Silver Weekly Review, 29 October 2026
Shanghai Metals Market — Daily Review, 9 November 2026
Shanghai Metals Market — Platinum and Palladium Weekly Review, 5 November 2026
Shanghai Metals Market — Precious Metals Daily Review, 5 November 2026
Shanghai Metals Market — Platinum Daily Review, 6 November 2026
Shanghai Metals Market — China's Gold Reserves Rise for 24th Month, 9 November 2026
Commodity Futures Trading Commission — Disaggregated Commitments of Traders, Other Sector, 6 November 2026
Previous edition: Bloodstone Research — China Precious Metals Intelligence, 2 November 2026
Disclaimer
This document is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Data and estimates may be revised. Independent financial advice should be sought before making any investment decision.
