Gold is the most famous of all precious metals, widely sought after throughout the world for both its investment qualities and industrial properties. Gold has traditionally served three functions: as a monetary instrument, a financial asset, and a raw material mostly used in jewelry and decorative objects.

As an investment, gold is usually viewed as a financial asset that maintains its value during times of political, social or economic distress. In this way, gold provides individual and institutional investors alike with a portfolio safety net against sharp downward spikes in complementary assets, such as stocks and bonds, significant rises in inflation, and volatile currency exchange rates.

Today, gold continues to represent a significant portion of the international reserve assets for most national central banks. Because of its value as a currency and historical monetary role, investment demand has played a significantly larger role than market fundamentals in determining the price of gold.

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