December 2009 witnessed the only monthly net redemption of the year in ZKB’s Swiss franc-denominated gold exchange-traded fund.  The volume of gold held by the fund fell by 4497 kilograms during the month, equivalent to CHF167 million at the year-end gold price.

However, for 2009 as a whole the ZKB gold ETF rose in size from CHF2.9 billion to CHF5.3 billion, equivalent to an increase in volume terms from 98,773kg to 145,746kg of gold.

ZKB’s palladium ETF increased in value from CHF96 million at the end of 2008 to CHF210 million at the end of 2009, reflecting a sharp increase in the metal’s price.  Holdings by volume were little changed over the year, increasing from 15,271kg to 15,489kg.

The ZKB platinum ETF increased in value from CHF120 million to CHF372 million over the year, with the volume of metal owned increasing from 3,917kg to 7,648kg.

The ZKB silver ETF saw the largest rise in value of all the firm's precious metals ETFs during 2009, from CHF376 million to CHF1,035 billion.  Its holdings rose from 1,017,835kg to 1,846,614kg during the period.