According to the Gold ETF commentary- WGC for October 2023, Key Takeaways are,
- Global gold ETF outflows continued in October but at a slower pace than September.
- Rising yields drove outflows from Western funds, led by North America, while Asia and other regions experienced a positive month!
- An incipient positive trend, however, started to form at the end of October most visibly in Europe.
- Y-t-d, global gold ETF holdings have dropped by 6%, but total assets under management (AUM) have risen 3% thanks to the strong gold price performance.
The Gold ETF October outflows from physically-backed gold ETFs totalled US$2bn in October, the fifth consecutive monthly loss. Collective holdings reduced by 37t to 3,245t. But total AUM increased by 6% to US$209bn thanks to a 7% rise in the gold price during the month.3 And October’s gold price surge, mainly driven by geopolitical uncertainties, was the strongest since last November.
Y-t-d, global outflows summed to US$13bn, equivalent to a 225t fall in holdings. The majority of this loss comes from European funds, with North America the other major contributor.
Looking at the long term trends & following another reduction in October, losses in global gold ETF holdings amounted to 225t during the first ten months of the year, the second largest in history-2013’s 791t accumulative decline was the worst. By the end of the month, collective holdings of global gold ETFs stood at their lowest since March 2020 and 17% away from the historical high of 3,916t recorded in October 2020.
In October, weakness in low-cost gold ETFs extended for the fifth consecutive month, collectively shedding US$1bn (17t), led by European funds (-US$818mn, -14t). Y-t-d outflows across global low-cost funds piled to US$5bn (80t). During the period, low-cost funds in North America saw inflows of US$114mn (1t), while Europe accumulated net outflows of US$5bn (81t).