HardAssetsInvestor

Written by Drew Voros  |

October 05, 2012

Commodity ETF Flows: Precious Metals Funds Attract $1.2B In Inflows; GLD Adds $728M

Details

Surging gold prices have sent a wave of investment capital tied to the yellow metal.

Investors continue to send waves of new capital into precious metals funds that more than compensated for the weak demand of funds in other sectors. For the week ending Thursday, Oct. 4, exchange-traded commodity-related products saw more than $559 million in inflows.

However, nearly all those inflows went to precious metals funds, which took in a total of $1.2 billion in inflows. Industrial metals was the only other sector to see inflows, which totaled $4 million.

Energy led outflows, with $578 million, followed by agriculture, with $54 million and broad market (multicommodity), which saw $41 million in outflows.

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

ETP Inflows/Outflows

For the second-straight week, SPDR Gold (NYSE Arca: GLD) led inflows, with $728 million, followed by iShares Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: IAU), with $275 million, United States Oil (NYSE Arca: USO), with $143 million, Market Vectors Gold Miners (NYSE Arca: GDX), with $102 million and PowerShares DB Precious Metals (NYSE Arca: DBP), with $49 million.

Energy funds saw the top outflows, with Energy Select SPDR (NYSE Arca: XLE) with $474 million, SPDR & Oil Gas Exploration & Production (NYSE Arca: XOP) with $201 million, United States Natural Gas (NYSE Arca: UNG) with $91 million, Market Vectors Oil Services (NYSE Arca: OIH) with $58 million and ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas (NYSE Arca: BOIL) with $29 in outflows.

ETP Performance

A mixed of funds outperformed, led by Etracs CMCI Long Platinum Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: PTM) rising 8 percent, followed by iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: GAZ) with a 7.84 percent increase, iPath Dow Jones-UBS Tin Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: JJT) with a 6.95 percent jump, iPath Pure Beta Sugar ETN (NYSE Arca: SGAR) with a 6.68 percent hike and iPath Dow Jones-UBS Sugar Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: SGG), which that added 6.34 percent.

Energy funds dominated the worst performers, led by Elements Credit Suisse Global Warming ETN (NYSE Arca: GWO), which fell 8.08 percent, iPath Pure Beta Cotton ETN (NYSE Arca: CTNN) with a 5.99 percent decline, First Trust ISE Global Platinum (NYSE Arca PLTM) with a 4.41 percent fall, Market Vectors Solar Energy (NYSE Arca: KWT) with a 3.91 percent drop and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Energy Sector Capped (NYSE Arca: EMEY), which lost 3.74 percent.

Fund Flows Data: (September 28 - October 04, 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.