The PRICE of GOLD eased back on Friday, cutting its weekly gain to 0.4% but heading for the highest weekend prices in history as US bullion-backed ETF trust funds expanded the fastest since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began 3 years ago.

 

Giant gold-backed ETF trust the SPDR Gold product (NYSEArca: GLD) today headed for its biggest weekly growth since early March 2022, needing an additional 20 tonnes of bullion to back its value as investor inflows grew its shares in issue 2.4% by Thursday night from last Friday's finish.

 

 

World No.2 exchange-traded gold fund the iShares IAU trust also grew this week, needing an additional 5 tonnes and taking the two gold ETFs' combined weight of backing to the most since end-September 2023, eve of Hamas' attack on Israel.

 

The price of gold in Dollars has risen 61.2% since those attacks sparked the Israeli invasion of Gaza..

 

 

Whilst the price of gold has now risen by 51.4% since 24 February 2022, the day that Russia began its all-out invasion of Ukraine, the world's 2 largest gold-backed ETFs have shrunk 16.1% in combined size.

 

"A long and intense day with the senior leadership of Ukraine. Extensive and positive discussions with "Zelensky [is the] courageous leader of a nation at war," said US special envoy Keith Kellogg last night after a day of talks with the Ukrainian President, lambasted this week as a "dictator" by Donald Trump after Kyiv refused his proposal for a peace deal with Russia involving mineral rights being handed to Washington.

 

"Gold prices soar to record high fueled by safe-haven demand," claims a headline at Reuters.

 

Yet "Record prices dampen demand in top hubs," says another, leading a report on how buyers in No.2 gold consumer market India "are just sitting back...waiting on the sidelines, hoping to jump in once prices drop."

 

Shanghai gold prices meantime showed a $7 per ounce premium to the global benchmark of London. That put the incentive for new bullion imports back at its typical level after slipping towards zero since the precious metal's No.1 consumer market returned from the week-long New Year holidays earlier this month.

 

With London bullion trading at $2933 per Troy ounce late Friday, the extra price for New York gold futures contracts receded again, easing to $12 per Troy ounce after peaking at $50 earlier in 2025 on fears that returning US President Donald Trump will hit all US imports with trade tariffs, including precious metals.

 

The cost of borrowing gold on a 1-month lease also fell Friday, halving to 1.4% per annum from Thursday's levels in London's bullion market to the lowest since mid-January, back before Trump's re-inauguration.

 

Silver meantime held firm on the day but showed a 20-cent decline for the week per Troy ounce, fixing at midday in London back below $33 before slipping another 30c to $32.60.