The streetTRACKS Gold Shares ETF (AMEX:GLD) finally sold some bullion yesterday- it must have been those twitchy hedge funds spooked by a strengthening yen again.
Inventory was almost 11 tonnes lighter in yesterday's update - it is not known whether the metal was sold on Monday or yesterday as Monday is listed as a holiday on their website.
My guess is that the sales were made on Monday since, they normally buy and sell after New York markets close at 1:30 PM EST and Monday saw the gold price drop after-hours, whereas, yesterday it was rising.
Over the last few months, major purchases have come at much lower price levels as shown below - they've been sitting at just under 600 tonnes since back when the price of gold was just $750 and have only added a tonne here and a tonne there as gold moved up more than $80.
They actually have a lower inventory right now than when gold was in the mid-$700 range implying that recent demand has been driven by some other source - probably India.
The gold ETF will probably end up buying more than they sell between now and the end of the year.
Full Disclosure: Long GLD at time of writing
