Indian investors poured their money into gold exchange-traded funds in August as they sought safe investments amid record-high domestic gold prices and a slowdown in the economy, Bloomberg reported.
Gold exchange-traded funds rose to $20 million in August, the highest net inflows since December 2012, according to data from the Association of Mutual funds in India.
“Gold ETFs witnessed buying for the first time in months, on the back of increasing gold prices internationally as well as a weaker rupee, which has led to optimism around gold as an asset class,” Kaustubh Belapurkar, director of fund research at Morningstar India told Deccan Chronicle.
The price of gold had hit a record high of $558.76 per 10 grams at the end of August but has since ticked downwards on profit-taking.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 67: Jamarlin Martin
Jamarlin goes solo to discuss the NFL’s entertainment and “social justice” deal with Jay-Z. We look back at the Barclays gentrification issue in the documentary “A Genius Leaves The Hood: The Unauthorized Story of Jay-Z.”
Gold has become the darling of many Indian retail investors who in previous years have been putting their money into equities since they had better returns than gold exchange-traded funds.
Seen as a safe-haven asset for investors, gold is expected to gain globally from a confluence of economic and geopolitical events that could weaken the dollar.
This demand for gold is expected to push its price beyond $2,000 by the end of 2019.
