Chinese gold ETFs April inflows surpass first quarter total, WGC says

LONDON (Reuters) - Investment flows into Chinese physically backed gold exchange-traded funds so far this month have exceeded those for the whole of the first quarter and overtaken inflows registered by U.S.-listed funds, World Gold Council data showed.

Gold ETFs in China increased by 29.1 metric tons in the first eleven days of April, John Reade, senior market strategist at the WGC, said on social media on Monday. That compares with the inflows of 23.5 tons registered in January-to-March.

"If the first quarter of this year was dominated by the U.S. tariff-related gold flows and Western ETF buying, the second quarter may have a very different theme, that of a surge in investor interest in gold from China," he said.

While U.S-listed funds led activity in the first quarter, so far in April they have lagged China, with inflows of 27.8 tons, according to the data.

Gold, considered by many investors as a hedge against geopolitical and economic risks, is up 22% so far this year, having hit a record high of $3,245.42 per ounce on Monday, driven by uncertainty triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's policy of tariffs.

Tit-for-tat tariffs between the U.S. and China drove the yuan to a 2007 low against the dollar last week. The Chinese currency has lost about 0.6% since April 2, when Trump announced his reciprocal tariffs.

Global gold ETFs, which store bullion for investors, registered the largest quarterly inflow in three years in January-to-March.

The gold premium in China ended last week at 1% above the London benchmark compared to 0.2% a week earlier. Dealers charged premiums of between $24 and $54 an ounce. [GOL/AS]

One gold trader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said global bullion banks had been "unusually active" in China last week, importing significant quantities of gold due to this high premium.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt and Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Pratima Desai and Barbara Lewis)