FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Investors' gold holdings at Deutsche Börse have declined again after hitting a record high in the first half of 2022. At the end of last year, 231 tons of the precious metal were stored in the company's vaults in Frankfurt, Deutsche Börse said on Friday. As of June 30, it was 242 tons, and at the beginning of 2022, about 238 tons.

Investors had used the record high of the gold price to take profits in the second half of the year - "for example, to react to the interest rate turnaround as well as the energy crisis," Steffen Orben, managing director of Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH, the issuer of Xetra-Gold, summed up.

Gold never completely loses its value in times of crisis, but there is neither interest nor dividends. In the meantime, interest rates on savings accounts and overnight money are rising again, so that some investors are shifting their investments.

Deutsche Börse always puts new gold in its vault when investors purchase the Xetra Gold Bond. One gram of the precious metal is deposited for each unit certificate. The Stuttgart Stock Exchange also offers such an exchange-traded security based on gold ("Euwax Gold").

At the end of 2022, the gold held in custody for investors by Deutsche Börse had a total value of 12.7 billion euros. Some investors also have their gold delivered to their homes: since the introduction of "Xetra-Gold" in 2007, this has been used 1745 times, according to Deutsche Börse. A total of 7.6 tons of gold had been delivered./ben/DP/jha