LONDON (Reuters) - Physically backed gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) registered the largest weekly inflow since March 2022 last week, data by the World Gold Council (WGC) showed on Monday.

Gold ETFs store bullion for investors and account for a significant amount of investment demand for the precious metal, which hit a record high of $2,956.15 per troy ounce on Monday. [GOL/]

Gold ETFs saw an inflow of 52.4 metric tons worth $5 billion last week, the largest amount since the first week of March 2022, when global markets were grappling with immediate consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

This raised their total holdings by 1.6% to 3,326.3 tons, the largest since August, 2023.

The U.S.-listed funds led the inflow last week with 48.7 tons. For comparison, in January they saw an outflow of 6.3 tons.