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The firm attributed fears over the effects of quantitative easing on major currencies and medium-term inflation risks to flows of $1.1bn (£691m) into exchange traded commodities (ETCs) tracking the precious metal, which helped push group assets under management up to more than £9.4bn.

ETF Securities now holds 8.4m ounces of gold. The company also saw physically backed palladium and platinum ETC holdings rise in tandem over the period.

Last week, an ETF Securities spokesperson said: "Flows into the gold ETCs have shown low sensitivity to downward movements in the gold price, highlighting that the largest buyers of gold ETCs are institutional investors buying the metal as a long-term hedge against inflation, US dollar depreciation and other risks, rather than as short-term trading instruments.

"The signal ETC holdings are sending is that most large investors believe these risks may continue to rise."

The popularity of ETCs has not been confined to precious metals, ETF Securities added.

Natural gas ETCs have seen more than $1bn in inflows this year, pushing up assets under management in natural gas trackers to $1.3bn, while agriculture ETCs have seen total assets rise by 134 per cent to $1.4bn.

"Expected supportive long-term price fundamentals and potential near-term supply disruptions from a possible El Niño weather event later this year also appear to be playing a role in driving investor flows," the spokesperson said.