Gold as an investment

For centuries gold has been greatly prized for its unique blend of near indestructibility, beauty, rarity and because of its status as a universally accepted currency.

Gold is one of the oldest if not, the oldest asset class, it is virtually indestructible, easy to store, liquid, and unlike cash deposits gold is not subject to the risk of ever rising consumer prices, in other words gold is a good hedge against inflation. Gold's value in terms of the real goods and services that it can buy has remained remarkably stable.

A key area of growing demand is from the emerging markets including Russia, South America, India and China. Even a small increase in China's percentage of gold reserves would cause a huge increase in demand. Asia - particularly India - and the Middle East are seeing large increases in domestic jewellery demand as disposable income increases.

Physical gold should form a part of every properly diversified portfolio. It is a universal currency, held by every major central bank in the world. In some ways it pays to think of gold as as a form of financial insurance against rampant inflation and financial turmoil.