Bullion-backed ETFs listed around the globe saw redemptions of nearly $19 billion in the second quarter as gold’s price dropped by more than 20%. However, a gold ETF listed in Japan is bucking the outflow trend this year.
Japan’s largest gold ETF has grown 10% this year by volume as “lower prices and the yen’s weakness spurred buying as a hedge against inflation,” Bloomberg News reports.
Bullion held by the ETF exceeded 6 metric tons on July 5, nearing a record reached in October, according to the story. Still, the overall value of the assets held by the ETF have declined this year on falling gold prices.
“Bullion is sought here as a hedge against inflation and a rout in financial markets. A drop in gold prices attracted Japanese buyers,” Osamu Hoshi, general manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp., which introduced the nation’s first gold-backed ETF three years ago, told Bloomberg.
CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (NYSEArca: FXY), an ETF that tracks the movement of the yen against the U.S. dollar, is down about 14% this year. The yen has weakened as the Bank of Japan takes unprecedented steps to stoke inflation.