As geopolitical tensions rise investors are increasingly turning to safe haven assets like gold, with exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focusing on the precious metal and its miners seeing $3.3 billion of inflows since August.

According to the economics outlet Kobeissi Letter on the microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), the most popular gold ETF, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), has seen cumulative inflows of $644 million year-to-date.

This ‘historically high demand’ has meant gold is on tract to have its best annual return since 1979, as it’s currently up 28% year-to-date to now trade at $2,645 per ounce. One year ago, the precious metal was at little over $1,800.

The outlet also noted that ETFs focusing on gold miners, the VanEck Gold Miners ETF and the VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF, are up over 30% and “on track for their best year since 2020.”

BREAKING: Cumulative gold ETF inflows including gold miners ETFs are now at $3.3 billion since August.The most popular gold ETF, $GLD, has recorded $644 million cumulative inflows year-to-date.Historically high demand has put gold on track for its best annual return since… pic.twitter.com/BM2l1jwsfJ

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) October 2, 2024

Per the outlet gold is trading “like we are in a crisis.” The price of the precious metal is surging at a time in which the total money  supply in the United States, the Eurozone, Japan, and China has for the first time in history reached $89.7 trillion, having skyrocketed by a whopping $7.3 trillion over the past year.

Gold’s latest rise came after Iran fired around 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in what Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said was a retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas’s political leader and an Iranian commander.

Notably, Societe Generale has shifted 100% of its commodity allocation to gold, driven by geopolitical risks and a weakening broader commodity market.

The French bank increased its gold holdings to 7% of its total asset allocation, reflecting a 40% quarter-over-quarter rise. This pivot toward gold signals growing confidence in the yellow metal as a safe-haven asset amid ongoing uncertainties in global markets.

Featured Image via Unsplash.