Global commodity assets rise to US$220b in April: Barclays

[LONDON] The total value of commodity assets held by fund managers globally rose in April to US$220 billion, up 14 per cent from the month before to reach the highest level in a year, analysts at Barclays said in a note.

Precious metals accounted for 50 per cent of total assets under management (AUM) at US$110 billion, followed by energy at US$58 billion, said the note published on Tuesday, which cited an analysis of data from financial information suppliers including Reuters as well as Barclays' own research.

The rise was driven by inflows of money into commodity assets as well as increases in the value of those assets.

"Boosted by strong performance across a range of different markets, especially energy and agriculture, commodity indices have made their strongest start to the year since 2008," the note said.

In terms of investments into commodities, April saw an inflow of US$14.0 billion compared with US$2.7 billion in March, the bank said. Energy garnered inflows of US$5.4 billion, compared with an outflow of US$1.1 billion in March.

Total investments in agriculture were US$4.5 billion in April versus an outflow of US$0.2 billion in the previous month.

REUTERS