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Want to invest in gold? Here are three fund ideas to consider.
This article isn’t personal advice. If you’re not sure whether an investment is right for you please seek advice. If you choose to invest the value of your investment will rise and fall, so you could get back less than you put in.
Published on 8 November 2023
It was correct at the time of publishing. Our views and any references to tax, investment and pension rules may have changed since then.
When the stock market is performing poorly, investors will often use gold to help diversify their portfolios. This is because the price of gold can behave differently to shares.
Gold is a finite resource. You can’t make it in a factory. The relatively fixed supply (it takes time to find and dig up more gold) means that prices are very sensitive to demand.
This means that the price of gold doesn’t always move in the same direction as share prices. In fact, quite often it will increase in price when share prices fall. But of course, this isn’t guaranteed.
The reason the price can move in different directions is because when things become uncertain in stock markets, investors sell shares and want to buy something with a value that’s considered ‘safer’.
Gold’s a popular choice because it’s recognised globally as something of value. It’s also highly liquid, so you can buy and sell it quickly and
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