Quote from intradaybill:
Hi,
You state:
"The recent default on sovereign debt in the Eurozone in particular Greece is evidential of future debt repayment required."
AFAIK Greece has not defaulted on its debt. It has received loans from IMF and EU that essentially transform bond payments to loan debt.
Then you state:
"As precious metals are a hedge against currency devaluation and debt repayment create inflation foreign countries are change their reserves pushing precious metal prices up."
Gold can do no good to exporting countries like China. They will not distribute gold to their citizens and they will not be paid in gold for exporting good to US and elsewhere. The objective of China is to keep industrial production going and averting the possibility of instability, social and economic. This can be done by accepting any form of currency the trading partners will offer. Exchanging that currency for gold will make things worse for China because the trade will shrink.
Therefore, it is to the best interest of the Chinese to keep gold prices low rather than to fuel a further rise. IF they do not understand that I would not be surprised. Chinese officials have often demonstrated an unprecedented misunderstanding of economics and how they affect international trade. Further rise in gold, as you say, has the possibility of bringing China back to where it was in 2002 in terms of a trade deficit with the US.