The World Gold Council’s second quarter report showed that overall demand improved in the first half, although not to pre-pandemic levels, mainly due to a Covid resurgence in India. While this was as expected, the level of central bank demand was a significantly positive surprise.
Central bank net purchases totaled 333 tonnes in the first six months of the year, in line with the high levels seen before the pandemic when Russia and China were the heavy buyers. This year both of those countries have refrained from buying, while Thailand, Hungary and Brazil have stepped in as the largest purchasers. Thailand’s central bank governor indicated that gold addresses the key reserve management objectives of security, return, diversification and tail-risk hedging.
MVIS Global Junior Gold Miners Index
31/07/2020-31/07/2021
Source: MV Index Solutions. All values are rebased to 1,000. Data as of 31 July 2021.
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