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While major Japanese and global assets have witnessed declines in H1, gold has delivered a 19% return in local currency amid a combination of rising inflation, geopolitical risks and a weaker yen.
Global gold ETFs registered 28t (US$1.7bn) of outflows in June. This was the second consecutive month of outflows, following the 53t (US$3.1bn) that left these funds in May. While the recent flows were enough to push Q2 into net outflows of 39t (US$2bn), year-to-date net inflows remained positive at 234t (US$14.8bn). Total holdings at the end of June stood at 3,792t (US$221.7bn), up 6% y-t-d.
Global gold ETFs ended their four-month run of positive inflows in May, with outflows of 53t (US$3.1bn). While this was the largest monthly outflow since March 2021, total holdings remain 8% higher year-to-date at 3,823t (US$226bn).
Global gold ETFs registered healthy net inflows of 43t (US$3bn) in April. While this is 77% lower than the previous month, which was the strongest since February 2016, it is the fourth consecutive month of inflows, maintaining the momentum of flight-to-quality flows we have witnessed this year.
Throughout April, gold remained among the best performing assets in 2022 up 5% in US dollar terms – yet it ended the month 1.6% lower at US$1,911/oz.
The traditional Defined Contribution (DC) investment portfolio made up of equities and bonds has worked well for investors for a long time. For much of the last 15 years, the environment that has afforded this success has been driven by central bank actions such as ultra-low interest rates and quantitative easing.
Geopolitical uncertainty, inflationary concerns and rising interest rates in key markets have impacted global financial markets in the first quarter.
Global gold ETFs had net inflows of 187.3t (US$11.8bn, 5.3% of AUM) in March, with assets just below the record of US$240.3bn, set in August 2020. March inflows were the strongest since February 2016, despite a significant rebound in equities and a strong US dollar performance.
Global gold ETFs drew net inflows of 35.3t (US$2.1bn, 1.0% of AUM) in February. Positive flows were almost evenly split between North American and European funds, continuing the year-to-date growth in Western markets and considerably outweighing outflows from Asia. Global net inflows were driven by stubbornly high inflation and a surge in geopolitical risk on the back of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which pushed the gold price to an intra-month high of US$1,936/oz.
Geopolitical crisis takes centre stage in February