HardAssetsInvestor

Written by Drew Voros  |

August 24, 2012

Commodity ETF Flows: GLD Attracts $1.2 Billion, Palladium Fund PALL Jumps 11.76%

Details

Precious metals funds ride big wave of inflows, as platinum, gold and silver prices spike.

Precious metals funds saw nearly $1.5 billion in inflows this past week, as gold, palladium, platinum and silver prices spiked, which represented nearly all $1.6 billion net inflows into commodity-related exchange-traded products this past week.

While agriculture was the only sector with outflows, totaling $53 million, the other sectors had meager inflows at best, as broad market (multicommodity) garnered $54 million in new investment capital, followed by energy with $44 million and industrial metals with $2 million.

Exchange-traded products (ETPs) include exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange-traded vehicles (ETVs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs).

ETP Inflows/Outflows

Gold funds were the big inflows magnet this week, with SPDR Gold (NYSE Arca: GLD) taking in a whopping $1.2 billion, followed by iShares Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: IAU) with $247 million, Market Vector Oil Services (NYSE Arca: OIH) with $95 million, SPDR S&P Metals and Mining (NYSE Arca: XME) with $71 million and Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners (NYSE Arca: GDXJ) raking in $48 million.

Energy and ag funds topped the outflows, list with United States Oil (NYSE Arca: USO) registering $79 million in withdrawn capital, followed by SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production (NYSE Arca: XOP) with $74 million, Market Vectors Agribusiness (NYSE Arca: MOO) with $25 million, ETRACS CMCI Food Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: FUD) easing by $25 million and Market Vectors Gold Miners (NYSE Arca: GDX) losing $24 million in outflows.

ETP Performance

While platinum has been grabbing the headlines due to labor strife and violence at platinum mines in South Africa, it was the metal’s cousin palladium that outperformed. ETFS Physical Palladium (NYSE Arca: PALL) was the top performer, with a gain of 11.76 percent, followed iShares MSCI Global Silver Miners (NYSE Arca: SLVP) with a jump of 9.75 percent, iPath Dow-Jones UBS Tin Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: JJT) with a 9.46 percent increase, Power Shares DB Silver (NYSE Arca: DBS) with an 8.42 percent gain and ETFS Physical Silver (NYSE Arca: SIVR) seeing an 8.19 percent spike.

The underperformers represented a mixed bag of sectors, with iPath Pure Beta Cotton ETN (NYSE Arca: CTNN) losing 4.04 percent, followed by iPath Pure Beta Seasonal Natural Gas ETN (NYSE Arca: DCNG) with a 3.75 percent decline, Market Vectors Steel (NYSE Arca: SLX) with a 3.18 percent fall, ETRACS CMCI Livestock Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: UBC) with a 3.09 percent drop and PowerShares DB Base Metals Long ETN (NYSE Arca: BDG) shedding 3.09 percent as well.

Fund Flows Data: (August 17 - August 23, 2012)

Commodity ETF Weekly Flows By Sector

Top 5 Commodity ETF Creations

Top 5 Commodity ETF Redemptions

Top 5 Weekly Performers, Excluding <1,000 Shares Traded

Bottom 5 Weekly Performers, Excluding <1,000 Shares Traded

Top 5 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Disclaimer: Data provided by IndexUniverse. All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern the date of publication. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.