State Street’s ETF holds more gold than most nations

Almost 21 years since the 18^th November 2004 listing of the SPDR Gold Shares ETF by asset manager State Street on the NYSE Archipelago Exchange, the total physical gold owned ranks it among the top 10 holdings listed by the World Gold Council.

With the ETF’s AuM of US$113.44 billion and spot gold price at US$3,587 per ounce on the 11^th September 2025, this fund’s total gold holdings stand at over 970 tonnes. The physical gold is stored in the vaults of HSBC in London and that of JPMorganChase Bank in London, New York and Zurich.

Table 1: Top countries/entities by volume of gold reserves

Source: World Gold Council (as at the 3^rd September 2025)

* Estimated amounts

While not overtly promoted as such, this Shariah compliant ETF performed strongly over the past year with its NAV rising 35.91% as at the 31^st August 2025. This stark increase also skewed the annualized returns to 25.44% for the past three years and 11.42% for a five-year period. Since 2004, the annualized returns stand at 9.92%.

The fund’s Gold Strategy Global Head Aakash Doshi is projecting a continued rise in spot gold prices to potentially touch US$3,900 per ounce toward the end of 2025, tracing a year with continued strong demand for gold bars and coins “despite record price levels.”

“Signs of a weakening US labor market, and some strains on the US consumer, have significantly increased the odds of a September US Federal Reserve rate cut in money markets. The US Fed easing has historically boosted the appeal of gold.”

Aakash added that the gold price resilience could be flagging hidden market risks, given how this precious metal has outperformed in US dollar terms versus the rest of the G10 currencies since US ‘liberation day’ trade policies were announced in April.

“Unilateral tariffs are broadly viewed as negative for the US dollar, which hit annualized lows in early July 2025. This boosts gold valuations via denomination effects.”

This trend of gold-backed offerings around the world was similarly tracked by the IFN Investor Funds Database, with emerging markets posting double digit gains.

Table 2: AuM growth for Islamic commodity funds from Q1 2025 to Q2 2025

Source: IFN Investor Funds Database

What makes the SPDR Gold Shares ETF quite impressive is that it is arguably the single largest Shariah compliant fund in the world by AuM, as tracked by the IFN Investor Funds Database. It is also the first US-traded gold ETF and the first US-listed ETF backed by a physical asset.

Gold being preferred as an Islamic investment class is also reflected by how this precious commodity underpins the top global public funds by AuM values, as tracked by the IFN Investor Funds Database.

Table 3: Top Shariah compliant public funds by AuM

Source: IFN Investor Funds Database