Yeah I believe it. China has the cash to load the market price and then dump it for a tidy profit. Just look at the spike of Monday Apr 21 and the dump of Apr 23, from $3,496 to $3,292, now imagine that in the weight of tonnage ? At 32,000 oz a ton ? Thats $6,528,000 profit per ton.
Now during April China bought about 70,000 troy ounces of gold and we can assume it was in the 2 day period of 21 Apr to 22 Apr in order to spike the market from $3,321 to $3,496 or there abouts. Selling at a month/record high of $3,501.27 for $3,288.00, or there abouts, would yield a tidy profit of $15,908,900, or thereabouts. A tidy profit for a few clicks of a mouse.
Of course my figures aren't exact. Math isn't my strong suit but my point is theres money to be made by autocracies driving up PM hysteria, gold most of all, because gold is the real currency that drives the world. Americans dont understand this because we've had such a sacred dollar for so long but in most of the world corporate, family , and individual wealth are measured in gold.
Theres a reason Saddam had so much of it, and USD. In the 1970's era Martial Law Turkey I saw the importance gold played in these society's. The real lucky Turks had access to $USD which they then used to buy gold. Gold and keeping the wealth of it inside the family is a big reason there is so much cousin marriage in these society's.