Gold Prices Fall Amid Rate Jitters; Copper Steady as China Stimulus Eyed 
World Gold Council (WGC) has published its quarterly demand trend report today and here are the key highlights from that report,
Jewelry demand:
- Q2 gold demand of 953.4 tons was 10 percent lower than 2016, while H1 demand was 14 percent lower at 2,003.8 tons. Yearly comparisons are affected by record ETF inflows in 2016, which slowed dramatically in H1, 2017.
- Jewelry demand from India jumped by 41 percent to 126.7 ton in the second quarter but that was due to record low demand in 2016. Globally demand improved by 8 percent, whereas demand declined by 5 percent to 137.7 ton in China. Global demand is 8 percent higher from a year ago at 480.8 ton but still a much lower than the 5-year average of 586.2 ton.
Investment demand:
- Investment demand in the second quarter was down 34 percent from a year ago to 296.9 ton. Total bar and coin demand grew by 13 percent y/y to 240.8 tons while ETF demand slumped by 76 percent to 56 ton. The European region absorbed 76 percent of the net global inflows.
- Bar and coin demand in India grew by 26 percent y/y to 40.7 ton, while demand grew 56 percent in China to 62.6 ton.
Demand from central banks and institutions:
- Demand grew by 20 percent y/y to 94.5 ton.
- Turkey bought 21t in Q2; its first significant addition to reserves since the 1980s
- Russia has continued to add gold to its reserves. Second quarter buying was at 35.7 ton and 100.6 ton for H1 2017. Gold currently constitutes 17 percent of the Russia reserves.
Technology demand:
- Demand in the electronic sector grew by 2 percent to 81.3 ton.
- Demand from other industrials grew by 1 percent to 12.7 ton.
Global Supply:
- Global gold supply was down 8 percent from a year ago to 1065.8 ton.
Gold is currently trading at $1262 per troy ounce.
