Brits Go on a Gold Buying Spree
If reports from two major London gold dealers serve as any indication, a lot of Brits are buying gold.
According to a report in Business Insider, Sharps Pixley reported a whopping 253% year-on-year increase in physical gold sales in March. Showroom sales last month came in at over $12.7 million compared to $3.6 million during the same period in 2017.
Meanwhile, according to Investment Europe, the Pure Gold Company recorded a 62% increase in physical gold investment last Wednesday compared to the daily average.
Officials for both companies said safe-haven investing seemed to be driving the increase in physical gold sales. Sharps Pixley’s CEO Ross Norman said customers expressed concern about the escalating trade war between the US and China, along with more general worries about geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Korea.
Gold has a record as a long-term wealth preserver for over 4,000 years and never more so than during periods of turmoil.”
Many people in Great Britain are also still jittery about the long-term impacts of Brexit. There was a major rush into gold in the UK leading up to and after the Brexit vote in 2016. One gold company CEO reported some people converted as much as 40 to 50% of their net worth into physical gold in the weeks after the UK voted to leave the EU.
Norman said a lot of new buyers are investing in gold. He told Business Insider the biggest area of growth was in younger clients and entrepreneurs.
Business Insider noted that Sharps Pixley is credited with being the first company in London to make physical gold and other precious metals easily accessible to cash buyers on the high street and individuals on the open market.
Pure Gold Company chief executive Josh Saul also said he was seeing a lot of younger buyers getting into gold. Saul said worries about property values have pushed a lot of Brits to consider precious metals.
Property market risk is a recurring concern for many UK buyers of physical gold. Our clients are not necessarily looking for growth in the gold price, rather they use the precious metal as a hedge against risk, knowing that if the gold price does increase it usually means losses elsewhere in their portfolio.”
Investment Europe noted that there are indications that we may see a squeeze on the gold supply in coming years. The publication quotes a World Gold Council report projecting plateauing mine production.
New mine starts in recent years have mostly served to fill the gap left by production losses elsewhere, which has led to a relative plateauing in global output.”
Business Insider said the increase in physical gold demand in Great Britain could be a sign that we will see an increase in the price of gold in the near future.
In February 2018 CNBC reported that conventional market wisdom predicted ‘wild market swings’ which could boost the price of gold. Yesterday’s announcement by Sharps Pixley might be one indication that this is correct.”
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