Investors have pulled over $10 billion from SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) and more selling in bullion-backed ETFs could put additional pressure on the precious metal’s price, Wall Street analysts say.
GLD is down about 18% year to date with the recent sell-off pushing gold prices below $1,400 an ounce for the first time since 2011. [Gold ETF Outlook: The Thrill is Gone]
The $51.3 billion gold fund saw record trading volume during Monday’s 9% plunge. [No Capitulation Selling in Gold ETF During Crash]
Other bullion-backed ETFs include iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU) and ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (NYSEArca: SGOL).
Goldman Sachs recently advised clients to short gold, and part of the thesis was that gold ETFs were seeing outflows and would no longer help support the metal’s price.
On Wednesday, Goldman commodity strategist Jeffrey Currie in a note said he believes there is “the potential for a further sell-off in ETF holdings given that a significant portion of the holdings, 8 million ounces or 11% of the existing holdings, were purchased at levels at or above current gold prices,” reports Matthew Boesler at Business Insider.
“However one measures the aggregate ETF holdings, they are still extremely significant,” the Goldman analyst wrote.
GLD, the largest gold ETF, ended 2012 with total assets of $72.3 billion. Redemptions and gold’s price pullback have led to a 29% decrease in assets so far this year.