Global holdings in gold-backed ETFs have more than doubled since 2015 to a total of US$141-billion, according to the World Gold Council.Global holdings in gold-backed exchange traded funds have risen to their highest levels in seven years, following US$19.2-billion in inflows last year.
This year, however, gold prices have climbed to their highest levels since early 2013, at more than US$1,600 a troy ounce. Global holdings in gold-backed ETFs have more than doubled since 2015 to a total of US$141-billion, according to the World Gold Council, helping to makeThe surge in ETF buying has boosted exports of gold from Australia to Britain, where gold backing SPDR Gold Trust is stored in vaults. Australian gold exports to Britain rose by 1,384 per cent in the quarter ended Sept.
Central banks have been the keenest buyers of gold, purchasing 5,019 tonnes of gold worth more than US$200-billion since 2009, according to the World Gold Council . Official gold reserves are now just 10 per cent below their all-time high of 38,491 tonnes in 1966, it says.Central banks last year bought 650 tonnes of gold, according to the industry body, the second highest level of annual purchases for 50 years. Purchases have continued this year with Russia and Kazakhstan adding 9.
Russia has also been keen to “de-dollarize” its reserves because of concerns about the threat of U.S. sanctions, says Alistair Hewitt, head of market intelligence at the WGC.