London gold dealers report surge in coin, bar demand on Brexit vote

By Jan Harvey
Reuters
Friday, June 24, 2016

LONDON -- Gold dealers in London reported surging demand for coins and bars on Friday, with some saying stocks were tight, after a shock vote for Britain to leave the European Union sent financial markets into meltdown and drove the pound lower.

Gold delivered double-digit percentage gains in sterling terms on Friday, topping 1,000 pounds an ounce for the first time in over three years, and soared as much as 8 percent in dollars.

Volatility in the wider markets has left some retail investors scrambling to stock up on gold, dealers say.

"We've already got queues forming," said Tony Dobra, executive director of bullion merchants Baird & Co., which has an outlet in London's Hatton Garden. "Sovereigns seem to be the most favoured at the moment."

Mark O'Byrne, research director of Dublin-based gold broker Goldcore, said it had seen record online sales for the time of day in early trade.

Sales of Britannia and sovereign coins have been extremely high, and inventories are being replenished, he said.

The Royal Mint said visitor numbers to its bullion trading platform had surged by 550 percent from Thursday, while new account openings had trebled.

Ross Norman, chief executive of Sharps Pixley, said his company had also seen a surge of online business on Friday, with gold Britannia coins and kilo bars selling out.

"We've been forced to get emergency stocks from our German and Swiss offices," he said. "Gold is demonstrating well what it does best, which is wealth preservation." ...

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http://www.reuters.com/article/britain-eu-gold-retail-idUSL8N19G463