The World Gold Council (WGC) has reported that, driven by strong inflows in the second half of the year, the collective holdings of gold-backed ETFs and similar products rose by 400 tonnes during 2019 (US$ 19.2bn, +13.6%), reaching an all-time high of 2,881t at the end of year.

Inflows rebounded during the month of December 2019, as the US$ gold price rose nearly 4% to close the year at US$1,515/oz.

WGC said that overall, global gold-backed assets under management (AUM) grew 37% in US dollars during the year as a result of positive demand combined with an 18.4% increase in the gold price.

Giving a further regional break up, WGC noted that North American funds had inflows of 206t (US$10.1bn, 14.4% AUM); holdings in European funds increased by 188t (US$8.8bn, 13.6%); funds listed in Asia were nearly flat losing 0.1t (US$12mn, 0.3%); and other regions had inflows of 6.3t (US$311mn, 16.3%).

The report added that December growth was driven almost entirely by Europe, and for the year as a whole, UK- and German-based funds grew 15% and 13%, a by-product of Brexit concerns and negative yields in Germany.

WGC also said noted that low-cost gold-backed ETFs in the US have seen positive flows for 18 of the past 19 months and increased their collective holdings by 60%.