Research library

Why it is under-represented in commodity indices, under-invested and the potential impact on your portfolio

Many investors buy gold instinctively, as a long-term store of value. Charlie Morris, Head of Multi-Asset at UK investment manager Atlantic House Fund Management, has devised a more conventional way of assessing gold - using a tried and tested model.

Gold demand was 1,123t in Q2, up 8% y-o-y. H1 demand jumped to a three-year high of 2,181.7t, largely due to record-breaking central bank purchases.

Central banks bought more gold in 2018 than at any time since the early 1970s – and the trend has continued this year. Isabelle Strauss-Kahn, Member of the Advisory Board of the World Gold Council, former Director of Market Operations at the Banque de France and former Lead Financial Officer at the World Bank, explains why.

The first half of 2019 proved quite eventful for financial markets. Stocks retraced their Q4 2018 losses by the end of April only to pullback again in May.

Wahed is the world’s first automated investing service for the US$2 trillion Shari’ah investment market. Based in the US with a growing international footprint, Wahed gives retail investors access to low-cost, diversified, Halal portfolios. Global Head of Portfolios Samim Abedi explains the inspiration behind Wahed and why gold is such an integral part of its offer.

Gold demand lifted by central banks and ETFs. This compares with a relatively weak Q1 2018, when demand sank to a three-year low of just 984.2t. Central bank buying continued apace: global gold reserves grew by 145.5t.

Following the launch of the AAOIFI Shari’ah Standard on Gold in 2016, we have engaged with Islamic banks and financial institutions to develop the market for Shari’ah-compliant gold-backed products. As part of this we undertook research to understand how investors view Islamic finance, their attitudes towards gold, and preferences for gold-backed products.

The upcoming Fed meeting could provide clarity into the intermediate-term price behavior of gold. As uncertainty becomes more prevalent in the future behavior of the Federal Reserve, we examine whether there is any correlation with monetary policy uncertainty/behavior and gold prices.