18 February 2014
Demand for gold fell to a four-year low last year as investors regained their appetite for risk.
The precious metal suffered its largest annual fall in price since 1981, closing the year down 28% at $1,202.3 an ounce, because demand tumbled 15% to 3756 tonnes, according to the World Gold Council today. The sell-off was particularly strong among US investors, who moved away from safe-haven assets like gold into others such as equities as conditions improved in the world’s largest economy.
“Some fund managers perceived that they needed less insurance against risk in their portfolios,” said Marcus Grubb, managing director of investment at the WGC.
