Source, a leading European provider of exchange-traded products, has reported record levels of demand for its physical gold ETP, the Source Physical Gold P-ETC (SGLD LN), in January. The product attracted $300m of inflows over the month, significantly beating 2015’s full year figure of $250m, and bringing total assets under management to over $2bn. The surge in buying activity reflected a broader shift to ‘risk off’ assets as equities succumbed to global market volatility.

Demand for safe-haven assets such as gold soared in January.

Christopher Mellor, Executive Director, Equities Product Management at Source, commented: “ETFs are a great barometer of market sentiment. Given the challenging start to 2016 and nervousness in the markets, there is clearly a renaissance in gold as a haven. We have seen record demand for our gold product, with investors attracted to its very low cost and high liquidity. Given the on-going concerns over the global economy, we expect demand to remain strong.”

SGLD’s average daily turnover on-exchange in the past six months has been $8m with a record $97m traded in a single day. The product has a total expense ratio of 0.29%, an average trading spread of 3-4bps, and is listed under GBP- and USD-denominated share classes on the London Stock Exchange.

There are additional listings on the SIX Swiss (USD-denominated), Xetra (EUR-denominated) and Borsa Italiana (EUR-denominated) exchanges.