After two months of inflows in August and September, gold exchange traded funds witnessed an outflow last month.

Market analysts expect the inflows in the 12 operational gold ETFs to mirror the global trend in the coming months.

According to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), there was a net outflow of Rs 31.45 crore in October against inflows of Rs 145.29 crore in August and Rs 44.11 crore in September. The assets under management in gold ETFs at the end of October was Rs 5,652.02 crore against Rs 4,621 crore in the same period of the previous year and Rs 5,613.22 crore the previous month.

“Gold ETFs are currently mirroring international trends. Last month, the flow was negative after two positive inflows in the previous two months,” said N.S. Venkatesh, CEO of Amfi.

Data from the World Gold Council show the holdings of gold-backed ETFs globally grew 258.2 tonnes during the July-September quarter, the highest level of quarterly inflow since the first quarter of 2016. While the demand was primarily led by inflows into US and Europe, the Asia-listed funds, too, fared well with the Chinese ETFs reaching record highs.

According to the council, accomodative monetary policies along with safe haven and momentum buying were the main factors behind the inflows. However, in October, holdings in funds listed in Asia decreased 0.8 tonnes in volume and $0.9 million in value.

“Demand in the third quarter nudged higher as the continued surge into ETFs more than compensated for weaker demand elsewhere. Investors have increased their exposure to gold in response to low interest rates, negative yields and geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Gold-backed ETF volumes hit a high in September,” said Alistair Hewitt, head of market intelligence at the World Gold Council.

He added that with monetary policy likely to be even more accomodative in the US, and global political issues weighing in on sentiment, the trend is likely to persist.