Amid banking and Brexit bedlam, the case for gold looks bright
Gold prices have bounced back from recent dips and are likely to continue to climb as investors seeking haven from market turmoil in Europe pour money into the precious metal.
James Butterfill, executive director and head of research and investment strategy at ETF Securities, said gold has proven to be resilient since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union in June.
"Since Brexit, we've seen $1.5 billion of inflows into our gold product. Clearly, gold is popular," he said on CNBC's Squawk Box.
This is something of a surprise, according to Butterfill, as normally interest in gold may trail off. Instead, many investors are betting that the price of gold will rise further.
"When you look at the previous crises after 2009, gold shorts rose pretty much at the same time as gold longs, but this time round we're seeing a strong inflow into gold longs but no positions into gold shorts."
The price of gold went through a correction in July. After closing at a year high of $1,366 early in the month, gold fell to around $1,315, but in the past few days has climbed back toward $1,360.
This is encouraging, according to UBS precious metals strategist Joni Teves, as it underlines gold's resilience and positive sentiment towards the metal, but there may be risks ahead.
"Frustration could start to build again and the fear of missing further moves could mean that market participants would be quicker to jump in up ahead," she said in a research note published on Monday. "This may create upside risks later in the quarter."
Economic and political uncertainty and accommodative central bank policy has made 2016 a good year for gold investors. Year-to-date, gold prices have risen 28 percent.
And this positive environment for gold is likely to continue. Expectations of an imminent interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve have diminished following disappointing data, and some analysts expect the Bank of England to cut rates this week.
"We think that the focus on low/negative yield environments and accommodative central bank policies this year suggests that more BoE easing than anticipated would ultimately be positive for gold," added Teves.