Investment in precious metal ETFs remained strong last week and demand for PGMs outperformed that for gold and silver, probably as a catch-up. Several factors on the economic battlefield continued to be supportive for precious metals: Fed's return to QE, the tendency of advanced economies to keep interest rates, currency tensions between advanced and emerging countries and, to a lesser extent, sovereign crisis in peripheral European economies. While profit-taking may trigger liquidations in coming weeks, the long-term outlook remains bullish for precious metals.

Gold: Out of the 10 ETFs under our coverage, 4 gained and 3 dropped last week. Resulting in a net increase of holdings by +468.04K oz, up +0.71%, to 66.55M oz. Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest gold ETF, gained +439.6 K oz, or +1.06%, to 41.86M oz and iShares Gold Trust, the second largest gold ETF, added +33.25K oz, or +1.02%, to 3.29M oz. Other ETFs recording gains were Gold Bullion Securities and ETFS (London). Each of them added around +10K during the week.

ZKB Gold ETF, Julius Baer Physical Gold Fund and New Gold Trust declined after climbing higher in the prior week. ZKB contracted -21.66K oz, or -0.36%, to 5.94M oz, Julius Baer pared the strong inflow in the prior and lost -5.90K oz, or -0.21%. New Gold Trust dipped -130 oz, or -0.01%, to 1.59M oz.

Silver: Investment demand remained robust. While the increase was against dominated by iShare Silver Trust, the largest silver ETF, the jump in holdings in ETFS (Australia) was prominent last week. A +119.69K oz surge in holdings represents a +22.93% increase in the Australia-listed fund. ETFS (US) also showed lucrative gains of +796.88K oz, or +7.14%, in holdings. While being offset of declines in ZKB Silver ETF and ETFS (London), holdings still soared 5.22M oz, or +0.99%, to 533.94M oz last week.

Platinum: With the exception of ETFS (Australia), all ETFs recorded increases in holdings during the week. ETFS (London) was the best performer, rising +11.06K oz, or +3.15%, to 362.29K oz. Speculations for Fed's return to quantitative easing in as soon as November raised hopes for improvements in the auto sectors. Total platinum holdings jumped 22.95Koz, or +2.26%, to 1.04M oz last week.

Palladium: Palladium's performance usually exaggerated that of platinum given its small market. During the week, holdings in ETFS (US) jumped +79.66K oz or +10.46%, to 841.29K oz while holdings in ETFS (London) and Julius Baer Physical Palladium Fund also soared for another week. Despite a drop of -6.32K oz in ZKB's fund, total holdings were up 88.74K oz, or +4.92%, to 1.89M oz.