Word Gold Council reports huge inflows into Gold

The New issue of Gold Investment Digest — which you can download for free from Gold.org - reports very bullish investment trends for gold. Here are some excerpts:

Inflows into gold exchange traded funds reached another quarterly record in Q1 09. Investors bought 469 tonnes of gold via this channel, dwarfing the previous record, of 145 tonnes, set in the third quarter of last year.[...] Inflows into the gold ETFs continued to grow throughout the quarter, despite the downward correction in the gold price, indicating that, as in past price corrections, ETF holdings tend to be “sticky”.
[...]
Investors also increased their holding of gold futures during the first quarter. Net long non-commercial and non-reportable positions on COMEX, a proxy for investor flows, rose to a high of 19.6 million ounces in mid-February, from 14.3 million ounces at the end of last year. This was the highest level since August 2008, though remained well below the peaks reached between October 2007 through July 2008.
[...]
Anecdotal reports from coin and bar dealers point to another strong quarter in retail demand for coins and bars in Q1 09, after a 396% year-on-year increase in Q4 08.[...] Dealers report continued shortages in the availability of both official coins coming from the world’s mints and small bars coming direct from refineries. As a result, premiums on many products remain high.

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