Gold rallied strongly towards the end of August closing at USD 3429 per ounce which was up 4% for the month and 31% higher year-to-date. According to the World Gold Council’s Gold Market Commentary the metal posted gains across all major currencies buoyed by a weaker US dollar with the positive trend continuing into early September. The report citing the Gold Return Attribution Model (GRAM) noted that August’s price surge was driven by an early-month decline in the dollar persistent geopolitical tensions and robust inflows into global gold ETFs. More recently growing expectations of a September rate cut have also supported prices. What World Gold Council Says On ETFs? Gold ETF flows provided plenty of support especially late in the month posting USD 5.5 billion of inflows dominated by North America with USD 4.1 billion and Europe with USD 1.9 billion while Asia and other regions saw outflows. So far rates have been sticky but that is more reflective of a growing unease about stagflation. Our quantitative analysis of various US investor types suggests that stagflation is of greatest concern to ETF investors followed by retail bar and coin buyers. Fast money futures investors are more concerned with rate trajectory the report noted. The relationship between the price of gold and its core drivers shifts over time sometimes reflecting who is most active in the market. Last month the World Gold Council suggested that one reason for golds decoupling from rates post 2022 was the preponderance of emerging market demand from central banks and other investors rather than a breakdown in the US investor relationship with rates. How Can Gold Prices Move Ahead? Now that central banks and Asian investors have stepped back a bit as indicated by our Gold Demand Trends data local premia and intraday session returns a tighter gold-rates relationship could re-establish itself and Western investors (particularly the US) could become more dominant in driving short-term returns the report stated. Should rates across the curve start to drop a ramp-up in gold buying could be triggered in the US. However the report suggests that the curve is steepening as the short end drops due to hopes of a Fed cut but the long end remains high on risk premia and concerns about future inflation. However a rise in inflation that is concurrent with a slowdown in economic activity and weakening labour markets Signals we are increasingly flirting with a stagflationary environment and this tends to favour gold.  (With Inputs From ANI)