Investors poured $5.9 billion into precious metal funds last year… no thanks to Paulson

Hard Assets Investor reports precious metals ETFs enjoyed solid $5.9 billion inflows last year that brought total assets in the sector to just under $98.5 billion.

That figure represents just under two-thirds of all exchange-traded products (ETPs) including energy and agriculture. Energy related funds saw outflows during 2011 while agriculture ETPs on a relative basis received the most new money says Hard Assets Investor:

Other standouts were the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE Arca: GDX) and iShares Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: IAU), with inflows of $2.8 billion and $2.7 billion. Indeed, precious-metals-related ETPs comprised five of the top 10 best performers of the year.

Interestingly, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: GLD) saw an outflow of $534 million, which is in contrast to the aforementioned $2.7 billion inflow into IAU. The disparity in expense ratios between the funds — 0.4 percent for GLD vs. 0.25 percent for IAU — may explain the divergence.