• 287 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 288 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 289 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 689 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 694 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 696 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 699 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 699 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 700 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 702 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 702 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 706 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 706 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 707 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 709 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 710 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 713 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 714 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 714 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 716 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
Gold Bulls Are Facing An Uphill Battle

Gold Bulls Are Facing An Uphill Battle

Last year proved to be…

U.S Targets Russian Gold Stockpiles

U.S Targets Russian Gold Stockpiles

In its latest round of…

Mining.com

Mining.com

Mining.com

MINING.com is a web-based global mining publication focusing on news and commentary about mining and mineral exploration. The site is a one-stop-shop for mining industry…

Contact Author

  1. Home
  2. Commodities
  3. Precious Metals

Gold Inches Towards $1,800 As Investors Pile Into ETFs

Gold

The rally in the gold price gained fresh momentum on Tuesday as investors piled into physically-backed gold ETFs to secure hard assets amid expectations of continued global ultra-low or negative interest rates and currency debasement.

Gold for delivery in August, the most active contract on the Comex market in New York, touched a high of $1,786.10 an ounce, the highest since October 2012 and up 17% so far this year.

The last time gold traded above $1,800 an ounce was September 2011, but it ended that year at $1,565 an ounce.

The World Gold Council reported that Friday saw a massive 27.3 tonnes (974,000 ounces worth more than $1.7 billion at today’s prices) inflow into gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The world’s largest gold ETF – SPDR Gold Shares or GLD – received the lion’s share with Friday inflows of 23.1 tonnes or 742,492 ounces, coinciding with the expiry of June GLD options.

On Monday GLD hauled in another 6.7 tonnes, or more than 216,000 ounces, bringing total holdings to 1,166 tonnes (37.5m ounces) worth $66 billion, the highest since April and February 2013, respectively.

Rock beat paper, briefly

While launched a full 18 months after the first physically backed gold ETF was created in Australia, GLD quickly dominated the market.

GLD was listed on November 18 2004 and saw a pretty good first day. Investors bought just over 8 tonnes, or 260,000 ounces of gold, affording the fund a net asset value of $115 million.

A mere two days later it would cross the $1 billion mark, and by the time Thanksgiving arrived the following week, gold bugs had snapped up more than 100 tonnes. The 1,000 tonne market would be crossed in February 2009.

On August 22 2011, when gold was hitting record highs above $1,900 an ounce GLD became the largest ETF in the world briefly surpassing the venerable SPDR S&P 500 trust (assets today $273 billion) at a net asset value of $77.5 billion.

Gold holdings in the trust would peak more than a year later in December 2012 at 1,353 tonnes, or 43.5 million ounces.

By Mining.com 

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment