Amid persistent geopolitical strains and growing concerns over the weaponisation of the US dollar, European central banks have continued shifting gold reserves away from US vaults – with the latest move announced by the Netherlands – and analysts say China could take it as an opportunity to draw more bullion flows into custody hubs in Shanghai and Hong Kong.De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank, said in a news release on Wednesday that it had transferred 86 tonnes of gold from vaults in the United States and Canada to London between March and August. Following the relocation, the share of Dutch gold held in New York fell 12.8 percentage points to 18.5 per cent.The bank linked the move to “increasing geopolitical unrest” and said it would “strengthen its crisis preparedness”.“A more balanced distribution of the gold stock between North America, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands helps to spread risks,” it said.European central banks appear united in re-evaluating their offshore gold holdings.In results disclosed in April, the French central bank said it had sold 129 tonnes of bullion held in New York before repurchasing equivalent high-standard gold bars in Europe. Serbia and Germany have pursued similar courses of action in recent years.