Investor holdings in the by Goldessential monitored (pure-play) gold-backed exchange-traded funds were seen decreasing 1.044 tonnes (-33,575 ounces) or 0.06 pct in the week from January 22nd up to and including January 28th, in-house calculations based on official data showed on Friday.

One of the thirteen monitored gold ETF's announced an inflow over the reported period, whereas three reported redemptions. Nine reported no change.

Additionally, holdings in the Swiss Zuercher Kantonalbank's (ZKB) Physical Gold ETF were seen dropping 0.63 tonnes (-0.43 pct) to 4,742,607 ounces or 147.51 tonnes in the week ending January 22nd.

Focusing on the ETF's under our standard scope of analysis - hence excluding the infrequently updated ZKB -, we see the only inflow over the reported period in the Swiss Julius Baer Physical Gold ETF, where 51,500 ounces or 1.60 tonnes (+2.65 pct) were added to investors' holdings.

The largest outflow in both absolute ounces and percentages was seen in the by ETF Securities marketed ETFS Metal Securities Physical Gold (PHAU) trust, where 62,935 ounces or 1.96 tonnes (-1.92 pct) were seen removed. The South-African NewGold ETF (Absa) reported a 19,732 ounces or 0.61 tonnes decline (-1.17 pct) over the interval.

A smaller redemption was seen in the equally by ETF Securities marketed Gold Bullion Securities (GBS) trust, at -2,407 ounces or 0.07 tonnes (-0.06 pct).

All other - non-discussed - monitored gold-ETF's reported no changes over the given interval. Jointly, the thirteen monitored funds (excluding (1)) as such declined 0.06 pct over the reported period, extending last week's 0.25 pct drop, and down for the fourth consecutive week.

Total monitored holdings (excluding (1)) were now at 1,631.22 tonnes, 1.88 pct below a record high of 1,662.54 tonnes in the week to December 3rd. Grand total monitored holdings (including (1)) were at 1,778.73 tonnes, 1.88 pct below a record high of 1,812.77 tonnes in the week to December 3rd.

On a rolling 4-week basis, the best performance (in percentages) was seen in the Swiss Julius Baer Physical Gold ETF (+2.19 pct). On the second place stood the U.S. ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (+1.64 pct). The third place was for the ETFS Metal Securities Physical Gold Australia trust (+1.08 pct). The worst performance over the rolling month was seen in the ETFS Metal Securities Physical Gold (PHAU) trust (-3.33 pct), followed by the South-African NewGold (-2.10 pct). The SPDR Gold Trust was third at -1.91 pct.

Physical platinum holdings in the four standard monitored platinum-backed exchange-traded funds were seen rising 41,941 ounces or 1.305 tonnes (+7.01 pct) in the week from January 22 up to and including January 28th, data showed on Friday.

Two of the four monitored ETF's announced an inflow. One reported an outflow and one no change. Additionally, the ZKB Physical Platinum ETF - which falls out of the standard monitored trusts due to irregular updates - saw a small -87 ounces revision in the week to Friday, January 22nd.

The largest inflow was seen in the U.S. ETFS Physical Platinum shares, at 64,976 ounces or 2.02 tonnes (+43.34 pct). The Julius Baer Physical Platinum ETF saw a smaller 1,000 ounces or 0.03 tonnes (+26.46 pct) inflow. The ETFS Metal Securities Physical Platinum reported a redemption of 24,035 ounces or 0.75 tonnes (-5.46 pct).

Total holdings (excluding ZKB data (1)) as such rose 7.01 pct to total 19.91 tonnes. Grand Total holdings (including ZKB data (1)) rose 4.94 pct to 27.66 tonnes.

Investment