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According to BullionVault, the gold dealing and ownership service for private investors, the rise in interest saw the amount of physical gold holdings that its customers hold in secure vaults in London, New York and Zurich rise to 18.12 tonnes by the end of June.

Overall, 5.43 tonnes of gold bullion was added to the BullionVault's clients' stockpiles during the six-month period - almost twice the gold added to BullionVault holdings in the same period last year.

This figure also equals 70 per cent of full-year 2008 growth.

BullionVault head of research Adrian Ash said: "While politicians argue over 'green shoots' in the economy, the number of private individuals buying physical gold continues to grow.

"Central banks are responding to the worst financial crisis in 70 years with an unprecedented experiment in money creation. But there's no evidence yet that quantitative easing has sparked a self-sustaining recovery."

During the first-half of 2009, March's 12-year low in US equities coincided with new record gold prices in all major currencies except the US dollar and Japanese yen.

Ash added: "With global interest rates now at zero or near, cash savers are joining stockmarket investors in seeking a strong crisis and inflation hedge."