Exchange Traded Gold Funds own $18 Billion worth of Gold

[GoldNugget]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/67e86d76-9c...0779e2340.html by Kevin Morrison posted at ft.com

Investors in gold-backed tracker funds now own about $18bn (£10bn) worth of bullion - more than the Bank of England and many other central banks.

The gold tracker funds have tripled their holdings of the precious metal to 429 tonnes since the start of November and have become one of the top dozen holders of gold in the world.

They have become one of the most popular ways to buy gold, helping to push the metal to a 25-year high recently.

The spurt of purchases in the last three months means the funds now hold more than a third more than the Bank of England - one of the largest gold owners until Gordon Brown, chancellor, decided to sell down the bank's gold assets in 1999.

The funds still lag well behind the world's six biggest gold holders - the US, Germany, the IMF, France, Italy and Switzerland - each of which holds between 1,300 and 8,200 tonnes.