LBMA Precious Metals Market Report: Q2 2025
Wed July 09 2025
Trading and investing in precious metals in the second quarter of 2025 was characterised in the media as a series of price surges. Gold hit all-time highs five times in April alone, and as the Israel/Iran conflict worsened, silver on 17 and 18 June spent a couple of heady days above $37, a price unseen since mid-2011.
Meanwhile, platinum surged through $1,000 on 20 May, $1,100 on 5 June, $1,200 on 9 June, $1,300 on 24 June, and briefly broke through $1,400 on 26 June (a.m.) before finishing the quarter at $1,350, a price not recorded since 18 September 2014. Supply issues were among the reasons put forward for this gain of 35.8% in the quarter and 48.2% y.t.d.
Finally, and although lagging platinum, palladium’s y.t.d. gain of 24.6% ($910 Jan 2 a.m. to $1,134 Jun 30 p.m.) could hardly be described as ‘lacklustre’ (pun intended).
It was not just metal prices that surged. UK pawnbrokers, according to the FT, reported a new wave of customers with one saying that “it has seen a 30% increase in first-time pawnbroking customers year-on-year” with “about 90% of its loans secured against gold, luxury watches and jewellery.”
Golden April
TThe White House formally excluded gold from President Trump’s slate of import tariffs on 2-3 April, thus bringing to an end the New York over London price premium which had built up during March, when the tariff issue was still live, as US-based traders rushed to get sufficient metal on their side of the Atlantic, to cover actual and anticipated positions.
However, despite the fact that gold was exempted, the predicted impact of tariffs, which many fear will prove negative for the US economy, plus a rumbling row between the US President and the Fed, and again – perhaps most consequentially – the uncertainty surrounding US/China trade talks pushed the gold price to unprecedented levels.
To be specific – April’s nine record highs:
|
a.m. |
Record Highs |
p.m. |
Record Highs |
|
1 April a.m. |
$3,131.50 |
1 April p.m. |
$3,133.70 |
|
10 April p.m. |
$3,143.15 |
||
|
11 April a.m. |
$3,213.75 |
11 April p.m. |
$3,230.50 |
|
16 April a.m. |
$3,304.40 |
16 April p.m. |
$3,322.90 |
|
17 April a.m. |
$3,324.35 |
||
|
22 April a.m. |
$3,454.70 |
It's Not Just About Tariffs
While probably the key driver, certainly in the early part of the quarter, tariffs were not the only strong influence on the gold price, although it is arguable that the other factors were all to a greater or lesser extent Trump-driven. The uncertain outcome of negotiations towards a ceasefire in Gaza was a case in point, as were the on-again, off-again friendly overtures to Vladimir Putin, and relatedly to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Beyond these issues, the markets were also disturbed by the downgrade to US debt ratings issued by Moody’s on 20 May. This combined with a broader discomfort about the strength of the US economy, including the predicted expansion of the US fiscal deficit as a result of Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, not only prompted significant waves of safe haven buying of gold during the quarter, but also appeared to have supported many central banks’ plans to reduce dependence on the US dollar as the global reserve currency – again, to the benefit of gold.
According to the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), reported by Reuters in an article titled, “Central banks eye gold, euro and yuan as dollar dominance wanes”, one in three central banks plan to increase exposure to gold over the next one-to-two years. Gold was seen benefiting even further longer term, with a net 40% of central banks planning to increase gold holdings over the next decade.
“The dollar, the most popular currency in last year's survey, fell to seventh place this year," OMFIF said, "with 70% of those surveyed saying the U.S. political environment was discouraging them from investing in the dollar - more than twice the share a year ago.”
Equivalently, Bloomberg reported that, “Central banks have emerged as a driving force behind the record-breaking bull market for gold, and while the true scale of their buying is shrouded in mystery, nobody expects them to stop.
“Globally, they are accumulating roughly 80 metric tons of gold a month, worth about $8.5 billion at current prices, analysts at Goldman Sachs estimate. […] Taken together, central banks and sovereign wealth funds have been mopping up 1,000 tons a year, at least a quarter of annual mined production, according to the World Gold Council [WGC]. In an HSBC survey of 72 central banks in January, more than a third planned to buy more in 2025. None intended to sell.”
The WGC also explained that Central Bank net purchases of gold in 2024 were 1,044t, the third year in a row when Central Bank net purchases exceeded 1,000t, and that in Q1 2025, Central Banks bought 244t gold (net) with the National Bank of Poland continuing to be the leading buyer: +90t in 2024 and +61t in the first 4 months of 2025. (People's Bank of China recorded six consecutive months of buying, adding 15t, to end-April 2025.)
Finally, towards the end of the quarter, the world held its breath in anticipation of the outcome of the US bunker busting bomb attack on three Iranian uranium enrichment facilities. The gold price, which had through June traded almost exclusively in the $3,300-$3,400 range, reflected this unease with a jump above $3,400 for two days mid-month (13, 16 June) and then faded slightly to close at $3,287.45 on 30 June p.m., a gain of 4.98% during the quarter, 24.31% for the first half of the year, and slightly more than 100% since 31 October 2022, only 32 months back.
Silver
Comments from a number of analysts suggest that as far as 2025 goes, investors ignore silver at their peril.
Counting from the beginning of April to the end of June, the silver price gained 5.90% (the rise in Q1 was 15.53%), but this is hardly an accurate picture. In fact, silver moved actively within a 16.8% range (1.3% higher than in Q1), finally achieving a y.t.d. rise of 22.34%.
In part, the metal followed the momentum established by gold, reflecting the wide range of concerns and uncertainties being expressed by the global trading and investment community. Also in part, there were several reports referencing the fact that silver’s popularity for jewellery is on the up as gold has become too expensive.
And there has also been a significant amount of silver investment buying. In Q1, for example, some 2.2m oz of silver was bought via ETFs. More recently, some analysts have been linking the silver price to US economic data – perhaps more so than gold, and as the Silver Institute, quoted by Mining.com, reminds us: “Silver is a lot more volatile as it is more sensitive to economic factors that dictate its demand, given the metal’s industrial uses. The global market for silver has been in a deficit for five years. In 2024, industrial demand for the metal rose another 4% to a record 680.5 million oz. in 2024, with structural gains linked to the green economy.”
London Vault Holdings
At end-June 2025, the amount of gold held in London vaults was 8,776 tonnes (a 2.07% increase on previous month), valued at $927.5 billion, which equates to approximately 702,044 gold bars. There were also 23,791 tonnes of silver (a 1.8% increase on previous month), valued at $27.5 billion, which equates to approximately 793,024 silver bars.
Both gold and silver stocks in London continue the upward trend which began in March for gold, and April for silver. In Q2, London vault gold holdings gained 2.81%, while silver holdings rose by 4.08%.
So, in short, London remains a trusted and well-supported centre for international gold and silver holdings, but the story in the US is less certain. Towards the end of May, for example, the German Taxpayers Federation sent letters to both the Bundesbank and the German Finance Ministry, calling on them to repatriate to 1,000+t of gold currently stored in the USA. Their argument is that if Donald Trump succeeds in his ambition to control the Fed, he will also be controlling the German gold reserves within it. Similar calls for gold repatriation are being heard in Italy.
|
Gold - Q2 2025 |
2025 YTD |
||
|
Performance 1 Apr - 30 Jun |
4.98% |
2 Jan – 30 Jun |
+24.31% |
|
Price High – 22 Apr a.m. |
$3,454.70 |
Price High – 22 Apr a.m. |
$3,454.70 |
|
Price Low – 8 Apr a.m. |
$3,002.70 |
Price Low – 6 Jan a.m. |
$2,631.80 |
|
Low/High Range |
15.05% |
Low/High Range |
31.27% |
|
Weekly Volume High |
308.01 mn toz |
Weekly Volume High |
308.01 mn toz |
|
Weekly Value High |
$953.55 bn |
Weekly Value High |
$953.55 bn |
|
Average Daily Volume |
47.52 mn toz |
Average Daily Volume |
47.94 mn toz |
|
Average Daily Value |
$155.45 bn |
Average Daily Value |
$146.56 bn |
|
Silver - Q2 2025 |
2025 YTD |
||
|
Performance 1 Apr - 30 Jun |
5.90% |
2 Jan – 30 Jun |
+22.34% |
|
Price High – 18 Jun |
$37.155 |
Price High – 18 Jun |
$37.155 |
|
Price Low – 9 Apr |
$31.800 |
Price Low – 2 Jan |
$29.405 |
|
Low/High Range |
16.84% |
Low/High Range |
26.36% |
|
Weekly Volume High |
3.55 bn oz |
Weekly Volume High |
3.55 bn oz |
|
Weekly Value High |
$123.53 bn |
Weekly Value High |
$123.53 bn |
|
Average Daily Volume |
578.43 mn oz |
Average Daily Volume |
578.59 mn oz |
|
Average Daily Value |
$19.45 bn |
Average Daily Value |
$18.84 bn |
Source: https://www.lbma.org.uk/