UNITED STATES November 19 2014 11:45 AM
NEW YORK (Scrap Register): United States Mint sales data suggests retail demand for gold coins remains strong so far in November, likely because of the drop in prices.

October sales finished at the highest monthly level since January at 88,500 ounces, and that strength has continued, as less than halfway through November, 54,000 ounces of gold coins have already been sold. This brings the year-to-date total to 661,000 ounces, versus nearly 1.1 million ounces in 2013.

However, physically backed gold exchange-traded funds saw outflows occur in eight straight sessions, and so far in November net redemptions have already reached 24.5 metric tons.

Holdings are now at their lowest since September 2009, and since peaking at the start of 2013, outflows have exceeded 1,000 tons.

'As we have highlighted previously, assuming that the shares created last were the first to be redeemed, current ETP holdings are not price vulnerable. But the increasingly bearish external environment places pressure on ETP holdings,' said analysts with Barclays.