Gold investments surge (From Asian Image)

Gold investments surge

4:56pm Thursday 2nd July 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share

Investments in gold soared by more than 40% during the first half of the year as consumers looked for a safe home for their cash, a dealer said today.

BullionVault.com has seen a 43% jump in gold held by private investors during the six months to the end of June.

The group, which has 14,000 customers in 83 countries, said the stock of gold it holds on behalf of investors in vaults in London, New York and Zurich has risen to 18.12 tonnes worth 552.7 million US dollars (£335.8 million) at the end of June.

The additional 5.43 tonnes worth 165.5 million US dollars (£100.5 million) added during the past six months was almost twice the amount added during the same period of last year, and represented 70% of the growth seen during the whole of 2008.

Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault, said: “While politicians argue over green shoots in the economy, the number of private individuals buying physical gold continues to grow.

”Central banks are responding to the worst financial crisis in 70 years with an unprecedented experiment in money creation. But there’s no evidence yet that quantitative easing has sparked a self-sustaining recovery.

”With global interest rates now at zero or near, cash savers are joining stock-market investors in seeking a strong crisis and inflation hedge.”

He added that March’s 12-year low in US equities coincided with new record gold prices in all major currencies except the dollar and yen, while the price of gold has risen by 6.5% since the beginning of the year to 941 US dollars (£572) per ounce on June 30.

By Nicky Burridge

• Print
• Email
• Share