According to Adrian Ash, head of research at the online bullion seller, since the crash, larger, longer-term holders of gold have been reducing their exposure to the metal, while at the same time newer investors that have learned the lessons of the crash are looking to put some of their assets into gold as insurance.
“This has led to perhaps a broader engagement with the metal, but on perhaps a smaller scale.”
This pattern was again evident in the numbers produced by the group’s Gold Investor Index, which tracks the balance of people using the exchange.
The index fell slightly from March’s reading of 53, to 52,8, its lowest level since January.
According to the group, a reading above 50 indicates more buyers than sellers across the month.
"For every net gold seller in April there were two buyers,” Ash said, but added however, that aggregate client gold holdings were barely changed, slipping 25 kilos to 32.7 tonnes.
This result is also in line with the view of gold as a safe haven asset, which tends to come into play when markets are volatile and a lot of other assets are performing badly.
“Gold has been out of favour with big money for a while now, which is understandable because other assets have been performing well. But, that is what insurance is for. If you are looking to use gold as insurance, you can’t really complain if other assets do well,” he told Portfolio Adviser.
