Top gold ETF holding rises for first time in 5 weeks

A small increase in the SPDR Gold Trust's gold holding at the end of last week may not be significant but does suggest that fears about the economy and the dollar have not gone away.

LONDON - 

The SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold ETF by far with holdings greater than most central banks, recorded its first rise in its gold holdings in five weeks on August 21^st, up by nearly a tonne to 1,066.41 tonnes from the previous business day - holdings had been flat for nine days beforehand. This is only the second increase in holdings since the record of 1,134.03 tonnes was reached way back on June 1st and in general the SPDR gold holdings had been in decline ever since that date with a fall of 6%.

For the first half of the current year holdings had shot up (from 780.23 tonnes at the beginning of January - a rise of 45.3% to the peak) due to huge uncertainty over the direction of the global economy and the stock markets in general, but as confidence has returned to the markets along with a general perception that western economies and Japan are pulling out of recession, the appeal of gold as a safe haven has diminished and since the beginning of June there has been a slow but steady slippage as some investors moved their holdings from gold into the general stock market or into other commodities which were seen as performing better than the yellow metal.

Even so, it would seem that the SPDR ETF holding has remained remarkably strong overall suggesting that there is still considerable unease out there on the strength of the economy and even though the gold price has remained range bound between $930 and $960 in recent weeks. The latest small increase in the ETF holding is not yet significant in this respect, but if there is any continuation of increases, even if only small ones, it will indicate that many big investors are still hedging their bets and maintaining gold as a significant part of their investment portfolios despite the recent big rises in the Dow and the FTSE. Many will also be hanging on to ETF holdings as a dollar hedge also as there is a continuing perception that the dollar may have some way further to fall yet against other currencies.

SUBSCRIBE to Mineweb.com's free daily newsletter now.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Disclaimer

MINEWEB is an interactive publication, with rolling deadlines through each day, commencing in the Sydney morning,  and concluding, 24 hours later,  in the Vancouver evening.  If you believe your side of an issue deserves inclusion, but has failed to meet one of our deadlines, you are invited to notify the Editor in Chief in Johannesburg, and we will include you in our editing and expanding on our stories. Email him at alechogg@gmail.com

Print story      Email story      Subscribe to free newsletter

Back

 

responses to this article

Name
Subject
Comment