Chinese Investors Exit Bitcoin, Flood Into Gold ETFs

Amid a weakening yuan and a tumbling Bitcoin (amid crackdowns on 'virtual' capital outflows from China), Chinese money is moving to bullion as investors seek an alternative to the 'managed' fiat paper offered by the PBOC. In the week through Monday, China attracted $52 million, the biggest inflow into commodity-linked exchange-traded funds of all countries tracked by Bloomberg.

As China cracks down on various Bitcoin exchanges, sparking an exodus from Bitcoin China platforms, gold has pushed higher...

As Bloomberg reports, Huaan Yifu Gold ETF, China’s largest ETF backed by raw materials, is getting all the attention, attracting almost $72 million last week.

“Chinese capital outflow has certainly elevated the risk to the financial system,” Chad Morganlander, a portfolio manager at Washington Crossing Advisors, which oversees $1.5 billion, said in a telephone interview. “It would be no surprise to me that Chinese gold ETF caught a bid under this elevated or increased concern about reserves, about the currency and about trade relations.”

Huaan Yifu attracted the third-biggest inflow into gold ETFs in the week through Monday, behind Frankfurt-listed Xetra-Gold, which got $172.9 million, and London-listed Source Physical ETF, which lured $73.6 million. ETF holders are bucking the trend in China’s jewelry market that saw the nation’s gold imports from Hong Kong fall in November to the lowest since January.

There are other troubles triggering capital flight and sending money to gold. The International Monetary Fund warned that China’s continued reliance on policy stimulus measures and the slow progress in addressing corporate debt raise the risk of a “sharper slowdown or disruptive adjustment.” The IMF issued the warning even as it raised the nation’s growth forecast for this year by 0.3 percentage points to 6.5 percent.

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