According to a report by Ernest Hoffman for Kitco News, global gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw their strongest inflows since April 2022 in July, with North American and European funds leading the way. Citing data from the World Gold Council (WGC), Kitco reported that global gold-backed ETFs attracted $3.7 billion in new investments during the month, marking the third consecutive month of inflows.
Kitco highlighted that all regions contributed positively, with Western gold ETFs making the most significant impact. The combination of these inflows and a 4% rise in the gold price pushed global assets under management (AUM) to a new high of $246 billion by the end of July, with collective gold holdings increasing by 48 tonnes to 3,154 tonnes.
In North America, Kitco noted that funds saw $2 billion in inflows, reversing the minor outflows from May and June. This was driven by safe-haven demand amid political uncertainty and expectations of easing monetary policy following comments by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Despite these recent inflows, North American gold ETFs have still experienced outflows totaling $2.9 billion year-to-date, with holdings down by 52 tonnes.
Europe also saw inflows for the third straight month, with $1.2 billion added in July, according to Kitco. This growth was driven by declining bond yields and expectations of further monetary easing by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. As a result, European gold ETF AUM rose by 12% to $103 billion.
Kitco also reported that Asian funds continued their streak of inflows, with India leading the way. Asian gold ETFs have recorded $3.6 billion in inflows so far in 2024, the highest among all regions, with total AUM reaching a record $15 billion.
As of 11:40 a.m. UTC on August 14, spot gold was trading at $2,473.23, up 0.42% on the day. Gold reached its all-time high of $2,483.74 on July 17.
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