NEW YORK: Turkey’s central bank raised its gold holdings by 2.91 tons to 490.261 tons in September, extending its gold-buying trend to a third consecutive month, preliminary data from the International Monetary Fund showed on Friday.

Turkey, which has the world’s 11th-largest gold reserve, also lifted its holdings by 23 tons in August to 487 tons.

Turkey’s central bank last year allowed commercial banks to hold a portion of their lira reserves in gold.

As of 10:45 p.m. EDT (0245 GMT) on Friday, Russia, which has been an active buyer in the official-gold sector, has not shown any updates on the IMF’s International Financial Statistics report.

On Oct. 18, Russia’s central bank said on its website that its gold reserves remained unchanged at 32.6 million ounces (1,014 tons) in September from August.