(Kitco News)- Theamount of gold held by global exchange-traded funds and similar products fellby 49.3 tonnes to 2,434.3 tonnes in June, the World Gold Council reportedFriday.
InU.S. dollar terms, assets under management fell 2.1% from May to $97.9 billion.
“Investorsseemed to shrug off poor equity-market performance and escalating global tradetensions, pushing the gold price down by 4.2% in June,” the WGC said.
TheETFs trade like stocks but track the price of the commodity, with metal putinto storage to back the shares. The product gives investors exposure to theprice of gold without having to take on certain expenses, such as assaying andstorage.
Thebulk of the outflows came from North America, as these holdings declined by44.4 tonnes, the WGC said.
Asian-listedETFs posted outflows of 3.5 tonnes, while holdings by European ETFs climbed by0.5 tonne. Holdings in other regions fell 2 tonnes.
Amongindividual ETFs, holdings in SDPR Gold Shares and iShares Gold Trust led thedeclines in North America, losing 28 and 17.4 tonnes, respectively. GranitesharesGold Trust registered the largest growth in the region, rising by 5.9 tonnes.
Europeaninflows were driven by UBS ETF CH-Gold, increasing by 4.4 tonnes, and XtrackersPhysical Gold, up 1.2 tonnes.
Growthin the China-listed Bosera Gold ETF holdings stalled slightly, with a 2.2-tonneoutflow in June.
By Allen SykoraFor Kitco News
Follow @AllenSykora