Total holdings in gold-backed exchange traded funds declined 97 mt, or 4.3%, in December, to end the year at 2,142 mt, World Gold Council data showed Wednesday.
Despite falling around 10% from a three-year high of 2,360 mt in October, total assets under management grew 532 mt, or 33%, in 2016, the first increase since 2012 and the highest since 2009.
Flows out of North American ETFs were the largest, down 5.6% in December to 1,181 mt, but up 24% over the year. European ETFs declined by 2.6% in December to 849 mt, but recorded the largest gains year on year, up 49% from December 2015.
Asian ETFs fell 2.8% to 112 mt, up 33% year on year.
Strong investment demand was one of the driving factor behind gold's strength in 2016, reaching three-year highs of $1,375/oz in July, before falling back as prices stabilized after the summer and then declining more rapidly since the US election in November.
Gold ended the year up 8.5%, however, recording its first annual price increase in four years.
Spot gold was just below $1,190/oz Wednesday 1200 GMT, its highest for nearly six weeks, boosted by a relatively weak dollar.
Despite gaining up to 4% in 2017, investment demand remained weak. The most recent data from the world's largest gold-backed ETF, SPDR Gold Shares, showed declines of 17 mt for January to date, following outflows of around 60 mt in both November and December.
