JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Absa Capital’s NewGold exchange traded fund (ETF), the largest ETF in the South Africa, reached a milestone on Tuesday by notching up assets under management in excess of $1-billion.

Tuesday’s listing of an additional 4,4-million NewGold debentures had taken the fund’s holding of gold bullion to 33 t, the Absa Capital said in a statement. 

Absa Capital head of ETFs and Index Product Vladimir Nedeljkovic said that the current turbulent economic times had made gold a “very popular” investment, and that gold’s investment case remained strong.

NewGold is an investment tool that allows institutional and retail investors to invest in a liquid, listed instrument that is fully backed by gold bullion. NewGold invests directly in gold and tracks the gold price.

“Investors are certainly favouring direct investment in gold as it is less volatile and can be better performing than investing in gold shares,” said Nedeljkovic.

NewGold, the only commodity ETF in the South African market, was launched in November 2004, with assets under management of just under R250-million.