The hidden forces behind gold fund NAVs

Summary: When gold prices are running flat, it would be natural to assume that gold funds would always reflect that steadiness. However, on August 18th, fund NAVs fell by a certain margin. In this article, we explore the reasons behind this discrepancy in the asset price and fund NAVs. On August 18, 2025, one of our readers wrote in with a puzzle: “When gold prices remained flat, how could my Axis Gold Fund and Nippon Silver ETF FoF fall by 0.35 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively? Are fund houses calculating gains and losses in some sophisticated way to cheat investors?” It’s a fair question. Anyone tracking the day’s headlines would have seen gold and silver described as “steady.” Yet fund NAVs t

This article was originally published on August 19, 2025.