Lowest price in two years accelerates demand for physical gold

 

Overall gold buying increased by 30 per cent via GoldMoney’s head office in Jersey, as customers sought to take advantage of the price fall to increase their gold holdings. New customer registrations also increased by 66 per cent on the previous month, marking one of the most active buying periods since GoldMoney was established in 2001.

 

While the majority of customer gold is stored in the form of large Good Delivery bars, GoldMoney is now offering its customers the ability to purchase 100g and 1kg gold bars, for either storage or delivery, through its online platform. But the recent rush has put strains on gold refiners to meet the demand across the globe. 

 

Geoff Turk, chief executive of GoldMoney, says: “The price drop gave customers the perfect opportunity to increase their holdings. While we have been able to cater to this demand with the large gold bars at our vaults, the sector is seeing backlogs with all of the major bullion suppliers for small bars and coins, which are popular among small buyers. Several mints have said they are out of stock and we have seen refiners quoting four to five week delays to produce small bars.”

 

Alasdair Macleod, head of research at GoldMoney, says: “The precious metals sell-off in April was driven by investors and speculators in derivatives markets. To almost universal surprise traditional buyers of gold around the world took this as an opportunity to load up on cheap bullion. So we had on the one hand investors, who look to make money out of gold in paper currency terms, and on the other an increasing number of ordinary people everywhere seeking protection from current financial and currency risks.”

 

James Turk, founder and chairman of GoldMoney, will be presenting his perspective on what’s happening to gold and money, based on his four decades of experience in international financial markets, at a seminar in Jersey on 20 May.