Gold loses sheen: Precious metal no more a safe haven for investors

By Ben Moshinsky

Something strange is happening within the gold market. It used to be the first place investors rushed to in a crisis, but that's changing.

An analyst note from Barclays shows investors pulled money from financial derivatives based on the gold price, even as the Greek debt crisis reached its peak in June.

Barclays said $480 million (£310 million) was pulled from the market that month, putting total outflows in the past two months at over $1 billion (£640 million)

"There are limited signs of safe-haven demand for gold," said Barclays. "Since September 2014, gold has underperformed other haven assets such as bunds and US Treasuries."

Here's the chart:

The yellow metal has been caught up in the wider commodities rout, which has seen prices fall across the board on concerns that production in China is slowing down.