Retail-based demand jumps even as institutions undergo a massive exodus NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Retail investors sharply increased their demand for gold bars and coins in the past few months as they struggled to find a safe place for their money amid the financial crisis, research shows. But institutional investors have kept the upper hand, according to Wednesday's report from the World Gold Council, an industry group. Heavy selling by institutions has more than offset retail buying and pushed gold prices to their lowest level in more than a year. Demand for gold reached an all-time record in the third quarter, led by investors and others plunking down $32 billion in an effort to take refuge from the global financial meltdown. Moves by retail investors, including demand for bars and coins, resulted in a net inflow of 232 tons in the three-month period, compared to 105 tons in the same time frame a year ago. Gold holdings in exchange-traded funds rose 150 tons, compared with 4 tons in the second quarter and 139.5 tons in the third quarter a year ago. The peak in ETF inflows occurred in late September after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The figures, compiled independently for the council by GFMS Ltd, a precious metals consultancy, show strong bar and coin buying in Swiss, German and U.S. markets. "Gold's universal role as a store of value and safe haven helped attract investors and consumers to all forms of gold ownership during the quarter," said James Burton, chief executive of the World Gold Council, an association of gold mining companies with the aim of stimulating gold demand. Demand for physical gold didn't slow even when some financial institutions were forced to sell their gold assets to ease the squeeze in their cash balances. "Funds who would like to keep their asset of last resort are being forced to sell," said Peter Spina, an analyst at GoldSeek.com. "This is causing weakness in the paper gold market price, but it is not a true reflection of the physical market." "There will be more victims of the fund collapse and more forced liquidations even if it requires selling your most desired assets such as precious metals," he added. "Once this process works itself through, the true market prices for gold will readjust." Gold futures closed at $732.80 Tuesday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, more than 25% lower than its record high above $1,000 an ounce hit in March. Comex futures dropped to below $700 an ounce last month, the lowest since September 2007. The London gold-fixing price, a benchmark for gold traded between big institutions, stood at $738 an ounce, down 28% from its record high of $1,023 hit in March. See Metals Stocks. Despite selling on the institutional side, physical demand for the metal has remained strong. Much of that money added to the gold holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the largest gold ETF, to more than 770 tons in October, a cache that exceeds the official holdings of Japan, which has the world's seventh-biggest gold reserves. Including industrial and dental use, physical gold demand in dollar value hit an all-time high of $31.8 billion in the third quarter, the WGC reported. In tonnage terms, it stood at 647.6 tons, the highest since the second quarter of 2007. Institutions dump gold On the other side of the tussle, some institution investors sharply reduced their gold holdings for much-needed cash in the face of the credit crunch. Institution investment saw a net outflow of nearly 300 tons in the third quarter, according to the WGC, which more than offset the inflows in the retail sector.

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