Jul 7, 20169:24 AM [BEIJING] Global gold holdings topped 2,000...

Jul 7, 20169:24 AM
[BEIJING] Global gold holdings topped 2,000 metric tons for the first time since July 2013 as the fallout from the UK's vote to quit the European Union fuses with rising speculation that US interest rates won't rise any time soon to fire up a hunt for haven assets. Holdings in bullion-backed exchange-traded funds rose 4.1 tons to 2,001.4 tons on Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The latest uptick followed an influx of 38.1 tons on Tuesday, the most in tonnage terms in a single day since 2009.

It's an understatement to say that gold had a good quarter. It increased over 16% in the first quarter, the fastest it's done so in 30 years, overtaken only by the Iranian oil crisis in the 80s. The story is not just about the gold price. The gold ETF industry has increased by over 50% worldwide. In addition to that, we've seen the market capitalization of members of the World Gold Council – which represents the majority of the gold mining companies in the world – increase 70 to 80% in the past four months alone.