Wealthy investors drain supplies of gold by hoarding bullion bars
By Javier Blas in Kyoto
Published: October 1 2008 03:00 | Last updated: October 1 2008 03:00
Investors in gold are demanding "unprecedented" physical levels of bullion bars and coins and moving them into their own vaults as fears about the health of the global financial system deepen.
Industry executives and bankers at the London Bullion Market Association annual meeting said the extent of the move into physical gold was unseen and driven by the very rich.
"There is an enormous pick-up in investment demand. I have never seen a market like this in my 33-year career," said Jeremy Charles, chairman of the LBMA. "The gold refineries cannot produce enough bars."
The move comes as fears grow among investors over the losses at investment vehicles previously considered almost risk-free, such as money funds.
Philip Clewes-Garner, associate director of precious metals at HSBC, added that investors were not flying into gold simply because they saw it as a haven amid Wall Street's woes. "It is a flight into gold because it is a physical asset," he said.
"Vault staff are also doing overtime," another banker at the LBMA meeting said, adding that investors in some countries were paying premiums of up to $25 an ounce above the London spot price to secure scarce gold bars.
Spot gold prices in London yesterday traded at about $900 an ounce, more than 25 per cent above the level before Lehman Brothers' collapse. Although some traders said the rush into physical gold could boost prices, others cautioned that prices were depressing jewellery demand, capping any price gain. Industry executives said gold refineries and government mints were working at full throttle to keep up with investor demand, but acknowledged they were suffering from shortages, particularly on coins.
Johan Botha, a spokesman for the Rand Refinery in South Africa, which manufactures the Krugerrand, the world's most popular gold coin, said the plant was now running at full capacity seven days a week. "Even so, now and then we have shortages," he said.
The Austrian mint, which manufactures the Vienna Philharmonic, a popular gold coin in Europe, said it had extended work to the weekends to accommodate soaring demand.
Last week, the US mint suspended the sale of its American Buffalo coin after it ran out of stocks.
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Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
Financial Crisis: Rush for gold as savers queue for bullion
Savers have been queuing in the street to buy gold bars and coins, as they search for a safe place to invest their money.
By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 6:26PM BST 02 Oct 2008
Traditionally, gold has been one of the safest investments during times of financial turmoil
London's two leading bullion dealers, ATS Bullion and Baird & Co, have reported a rush of interest from savers, many of whom have hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of savings they want to convert into the precious metal.
At least two customers have invested the entire proceeds from selling their houses into gold, each buying up more than £500,000-worth of gold bars, according to one dealer.
Savers have been queuing in the street at ATS Bullion, whose offices are just off the Strand in London's west end.
Sandra Conway, the company's managing director, said: "We've had to turn people away. The queues have been right out of the door and it's been really hectic at times.
"Ever since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, the phones have been going off the hook."
Traditionally, gold has been one of the safest investments during times of financial turmoil. In 1973 gold cost just $60 an ounce and hit $650 in 1981.
However, since the summer the price of gold has fallen as the dollar has strengthened – the two are linked quite closely.
But the fact that gold has not performed well in recent months has not deterred thousands of investors.
"They don't think of gold as a way of making money. They think of it as a safeguard in these turbulent times. You can move gold quickly, in a way that you can not with shares or cash in a bank account," Ms Conway said.
The average investor is buying up between £10,000 and £50,000 in bars on each visit, but it is possible to buy as little as a half sovereign coin, which costs about £70.
Some analysts say that while it may be romantic to buy bars of gold, there is a far more practical way to investing in gold. Investors can buy Exchange Traded Funds, which are like shares – they trade on the stock market – and they are directly linked to the price of gold.
Mick Gilligan, at stockbrokers Killik & Co, said that his clients had been asking about investing in gold in far greater numbers in recent weeks.
"It's lot easier to sell than the gold you keep in your sock drawer," he said.
