GOLD AS AN INVESTMENT VEHICLE

Gold has been used extensively for savings, investments and consumption since ages;however the importance of the gold as an investment instruments has been much talked in the recenttimes. This research paper intends to find various applications of gold portfolios as an alternate assetclass: the benefits of including gold to an investment portfolio have been analyzed. The results indicatethat gold has performed significantly better than other assets like debt and equity in both emerging andUS markets. It was noted that addition of gold to portfolios helped reduce the volatility and increaseoverall returns during the period 2009-12. For example, in 2008, when the U.S. equity market plunged to36.99%, gold in fact showed returns of 5.8%. It is also observed that the inverse correlation existsbetween the dollar index and the gold prices helped reduce the portfolio risk as a result of diversification.