Precious metal ETP stores plummet

Laurent Kssis at LaBranche Structured Products Europe (LSPE) discusses European ETF trades for the week ending 13 May.

Silver holdings in physically backed ETPs shrunk by 548,896 ounces last week, a decline worth $18.9m at today's price of $34.35 per ounce. Gold ETPs fared even worse, losing 546,056 ounces or the equivalent of $819m.

Meanwhile the broad CRB index fell 0.9% and crude oil dropped 4%, leading to outflows of $1.2bn across commodity ETFs. Only platinum held some hope for the precious metals market, with holdings growing by 2,716 ounces.

In equities, the demand for ETFs tracking the Dax is finally beginning to ease up, with iShares reporting creation orders worth just €27m in its Dax ETF and redemptions of €21m in its DivDAX DE. The German story is not completely over though, with creations of €91m in iShares MDAX DE revealing an unanticipated taste for mid cap equities.

Emerging market funds saw mixed fortunes, with Russian ETFs experiencing huge selling volumes, but Latin America exposures staging something of a comeback. Both Lyxor ETF Brazil and iShares MSCI Brazil saw creations last week after six months of retractions.

Developed market investors continue to concentrate on the US, with our top five most active ETFs all tracking markets across the pond, although both iShares S&P 500 and MSCI Europe ex-UK saw encouraging inflows, $67m and $92m respectively.

Bond ETFs also saw some heavy trading, with iShares' Markit iBoxx $ Corporate Bond, Barclays Capital Euro Govt Bond 7-10 and Barclays Capital Euro Corporate Bond ex-Financials ETFs collectively accounting for over half of all our creation orders.

This report is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of any investment products or other financial product or service, an official confirmation of any transaction, or an official statement of LSPE.