Here’s why gold ETFs are due to pay off for investors

Article Excerpt

Gold demand in the first half of 2019 jumped to a three-year high of 2,182 tonnes largely due to record-level central bank purchases. Altogether, central banks bought 374 tonnes. That makes for the largest net increase in global gold reserves for the first half of the year in nearly two decades. Buying was spread across a diverse range of emerging-market countries. This came on top of record gold buying by central banks in 2018 when they added more gold to their international reserves than at any other time since the end of the Bretton Woods agreement nearly 50 years ago. Central banks now own almost 34,000 tonnes of gold, making their collective holdings the third-largest reserve in the world. ETFs purchased 108 tonnes of gold in the first half of 2019, almost double the amount bought in the first half of 2018. The biggest and most consistent demand for gold comes from the jewelry sector, which bought 1,062 tonnes in the first half of…