While there is no yield gold looks attractive – it has always been seen as more valuable than cash when interest rates are low – so ongoing, as interest rates and therefore yield are likely to stay low for some time yet gold should continue to look attractive.
A look at the Investment Association’s (IA) specialist sector – where most of the commodity funds are housed – shows gold at the top of the pile over the past 12 months, according to FE Analytics, with Ruffer Gold returning 32% (42% year-to-date), and Investec Global Gold also up there, with a 12-month figure of 8% and year-to-date returns of 52%.
While this may all seem to be good news for gold right now, arguing it as a safe haven is still a tough call to make.
For example, the price of gold itself may have gone up by an impressive relative percentage figure in relative terms, to $1,200 (£846, €1,074), but it is still a long way from its peak of $1,900 in 2011. It actually hit a six-year low at the end of 2015 so any percentage increase is starting from a very low base.
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