Trade zone's new gold board 'gets off to slow start'

One week after the Shanghai Gold Exchange started trading in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, transactions on the international board have been scant compared with international peers. But analysts said it is still too early to assess the board's operations.

The SGE's international board for the first time enables international investors to invest directly in China's gold market, and it has been widely seen as part of the country's effort to open its financial markets and gain more say in the pricing of the precious metal.

Three contracts are offered: 100 grams of bullion of 99.99 percent purity (iAu100g), 1 kg of the same purity (iAu9999) and 12.5-kg bars of 99.5 percent purity (iAu99.5).