
Featured Report
Global gold ETFs ended their four-month run of positive inflows in May, with outflows of 53t (US$3.1bn). While this was the largest monthly outflow since March 2021, total holdings remain 8% higher year-to-date at 3,823t (US$226bn).
Global gold ETFs registered healthy net inflows of 43t (US$3bn) in April. While this is 77% lower than the previous month, which was the strongest since February 2016, it is the fourth consecutive month of inflows, maintaining the momentum of flight-to-quality flows we have witnessed this year.
Gold market sees solid start to 2022
Q1 gold demand was 34% above Q1 2021, driven by strong ETF inflows. In a quarter that saw the US dollar gold price rise by 8%, gold demand (excluding OTC) increased 34% y-o-y to 1,234t – the highest since Q4 2018 and 19% above the five-year average of 1,039t.
The traditional Defined Contribution (DC) investment portfolio made up of equities and bonds has worked well for investors for a long time. For much of the last 15 years, the environment that has afforded this success has been driven by central bank actions such as ultra-low interest rates and quantitative easing.
Gold rose for the second consecutive quarter in Q1, ending 8% higher at US$1,942/oz – its best quarterly performance since Q2 2020.
India has a long history of mining gold, but at a low level: 2020 gold mine production was just 1.6 tonnes. Legacy processes are in part to blame: investment in the sector has been discouraged by unwieldy processes.
Geopolitical crisis takes centre stage in February
Global gold ETFs drew net inflows of 35.3t (US$2.1bn, 1.0% of AUM) in February. Positive flows were almost evenly split between North American and European funds, continuing the year-to-date growth in Western markets and considerably outweighing outflows from Asia. Global net inflows were driven by stubbornly high inflation and a surge in geopolitical risk on the back of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which pushed the gold price to an intra-month high of US$1,936/oz.
The LBMA Gold Price PM (US$) was marginally down in January, dipping less than 1% to US$1,795/oz. But this provides an incomplete picture of the interesting dynamics seen throughout the month.