TheStreet.com reports: Investors continued to pour into precious metals in March, adding a hefty $1.2 billion into the mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that concentrate on the specialty sector.

Topping the list of winners, as it did every month last quarter, was the streetTracks Gold Shares [NYSE:GLD] ETF taking in a net $590 million. The other two precious-metals bullion funds, iShares Silver Trust [NYSE:SLV] and iShares Comex Gold Trust [NYSE:IAU], added $140 million and $139 million respectively, bringing the total added to the bullion group to $869 million.

That compares with a monthly total of $336 million flowing into all the mutual funds that invest in the stocks of mining companies.