For centuries, gold has been a traditional safe haven and hedge against inflation and there are now numerous exposure options, with varying degrees of risk.
There are three major ways for investors to have exposure to gold: in physical form - bars, coins, such as those of New Zealand Mint Ltd, and nuggets from bullion dealers; securities which track the price of gold; and the listed shares of companies exploring for, or producing, gold.
Forsyth Barr broker Suzanne Kinnaird said there were several options in the securities sector, such as ETFS Metal Securities Australia Ltd, a company created to issue gold bullion securities and allow for the trade of bullion on the Australian exchange.
Holders of a ETFS security hold both a redeemable preference share of nominal value and a beneficial interest in about th of an ounce of physical gold.
Perth Mint Gold warrants - overseen by a statutory authority of the Government of Western Australia and rated AAA by Standard & Poor's - are based on the market value of Perth Mint's gold backing.
Further afield on the New York Stock Exchange are exchange-traded index-tracker funds such as iShares COMEX Gold Trust, which seeks to correspond generally to day-to-day gold bullion price movements.
Forsyth Barr has several "accumulate recommendations" on listed Australian companies, including Western and South Australian exploration and development company Avoca Resources; Lihir Gold with its exploration and Papua New Guinea processing facilities; and Newcrest Mining with its gold and copper operations in Australia and Indonesia and other projects in Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre has a "hold" recommendation on triple-listed Oceana Gold stock, citing a need to see its northern Philippines Didipio gold/copper project taken out of mothballs and re-established to gain a re-rating.
His top picks for gold stocks are Newcrest Mining, Lihir Gold, Gold ASX and the exchange-traded fund, iShares COMEX Gold Trust in the United States.
