Last Updated : 31 October 2009 at 15:00 IST

Gold ETFs: Investor holdings rise by 1.591 tonnes

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LONDON (Commodity Online): Investor holdings in the by Goldessential monitored gold-backed exchange-traded funds were seen increasing 1.591 tonnes (51,168 ounces) or 0.10 pct in the week from October 22th up to and including October 29th, says a report from goldessential.com.

Four of the ten monitored ETFs announced an inflow over the reported period, whereas one reported a physical outflow. Five reported “no change”, although one announced a small internal adjustment that did not correspond to an actual physical flow. Additionally, the ZKB Physical Gold ETF – which is one of the two funds not included in our weekly analysis due to infrequent intra-week updates, dropped 10,875 ounces or 0.34 tonnes (-0.23 pct) in the week ending October 23.

The largest inflow in both percentages and absolute numbers was seen in the COMEX Ishares Gold trust (Barclays), where 147,190 ounces or 4.58 tonnes (+6.08 pct) were added to holdings on behalf of investors. ETF Securities marketed by ETF Metal Securities (PHAU) reported an inflow of 18,806 ounces or 0.58 tonnes (+0.57 pct). Smaller declines were seen in the equally by ETF Securities marketed Gold Bullion Securities (GBS) at 2,571 ounces or 0.08 tonnes (+0.06 pct) and Metal Securities Australia fund at 403 ounces or 0.01 tonnes (+0.09 pct), the equivalent of one London good delivery gold bar.

The SPDR Gold ETF, world’s largest bullion-backed exchange traded fund, reported an outflow of 117,672 ounces or 3.66 tonnes (-0.33 pct), that was spread over three days of equal declines (-39,224 ounces). All other monitored ETF’s reported no changes over the given interval, apart from the South-African NewGold Debentures (Absa) announcing a revision of -130 ounces.

Jointly, the ten monitored gold-backed exchange traded funds (excluding (1) and (2)) as such rose 0.10 pct over the latest week, thereby undoing some of last week’s 1.07 pct loss. Total monitored holdings (excluding (1) and (2)) were now at 1,603.92 tonnes, 0.97 pct below a record high of 1,619.62 tonnes. Grand total monitored holdings (including (1) and (2)) were at 1,765.99 tonnes, down 0.91 pct from a record high of 1,782.27 tonnes.

On a rolling month basis, the best performance (in percent) was seen in the Ishares COMEX Gold trust (+6.92 pct). On the second place stood the ETFS Metal Securities (PHAU) at (+5.85 pct). The third place was for the Swiss Julius Baer Physical Gold ETF (+2.13 pct).

There ETFS Metal Securities trust was the only of the monitored bullion-backed ETF’s to announce a physical decline over the rolling month, at -10.67 pct.