Gold, silver funds see biggest weekly outflows in three months

(Reuters) – Gold and silver mutual funds and ETFs witnessed the biggest outflows in three months in the week ended Feb. 10 as investors put their money into soaring equities and high-yielding bond markets.

Investors net sold $1.4 billion in precious metal funds in the week ended Feb. 10, according to weekly data available for 338 precious metal funds on Refinitiv Lipper.

(Graphic: Flows into precious metal funds, )

On the other hand, investors put $43.1 billion in equities funds, as global stocks surged on optimism over vaccine roll-outs and hopes of a bigger fiscal package from the United States.

iShares Silver Trust saw outflows of $919.1 million, while SPDR Gold Shares had net sales of $621 million in the last week.

The outflows from precious metal funds also came as the U.S. Treasury yields hit an over 6-month high, on hopes large stimulus measures from the United States would accelerate the country’s economic growth.

(Graphic: Biggest outflows in the week ended Feb. 10, )

The data showed global bonds also had inflows of $18.03 billion in the week ended Feb. 10.

“‘Gold-as-a-safe-haven’ isn’t incredibly appealing for investors during an incredible economic recovery,” said TD Commodities in a report.

It also said gold remains negatively correlated to 5-year/5-year forward inflation swaps, reflecting gold’s less attractive investment profile as nominal yields rise.

(Graphic: Correlation between forward inflation swap and gold prices, )

On the other hand, investors have been piling into some platinum ETFs in the past few weeks, the data showed.

GraniteShares Platinum Trust had an inflow of $4.6 million in the week ended Feb. 10.

Platinum prices soared to their highest in nearly 6-1/2 years on Tuesday, fuelled by expectations a rebound in the global economy would stoke demand for the metal used in autocatalysts.

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