PANews reported on July 8 that the World Gold Council reported that driven by a strong performance in June (+US$7.6 billion), global gold ETFs increased by US$38 billion in the first half of the year. In the first half of the year, the total assets under management of these funds soared 41% to US$383 billion, and the total holdings increased by 397 tons to 3,616 tons. North America (+US$21 billion) was the main region for capital inflows in the first half of the year. It was followed by Asia (+US$11 billion) and Europe (+US$6 billion). In the first half of the year, gold trading volume averaged US$329 billion per day, a record high for the first half of the year.