BullionVault’s Gold Investor Index, which measures private sentiment towards physical bullion, dropped to 54.1 in June from May’s level of 55.3, the highest reading in 2017.
BullionVault, an online market for physical precious metals, said that its users slashed their total gold holdings by weight for the third consecutive month in June.
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“Contrarian-minded investors know that buying gold ahead of stockmarket weakness has proven smart in the past. But the lack of a clear direction in gold prices is also making existing investors price sensitive, buying the dips and selling the spikes,” BullionVault director of research Adrian Ash wrote.
New interest in the precious metal also remained weak, with first-time investors in the US and Eurozone accounting for the lowest monthly level since December 2015, when gold slid to a six-year low.
The number of people investing or growing their holdings in gold dropped 8.4% in June compared to the previous month, while the number of net sellers surged 19.3% from May’s eight-month low.
