The International Monetary Fund has sold 200 metric tonnes of gold to India’s central bank, making $6.7bn which it will use to shore up its long-term finances and subsidise loans to poor countries.

Gold: Unstable metal

Interactive timeline charts economic and political events that have driven gold prices from 1900

India’s central bank is the first to buy from the IMF since the Fund put 403.3 tonnes of its stockpile up for sale in September.