BlackRock's Raw: Looking beyond gold's weak points

Looking beyond gold’s weak points

Catherine Raw [pictured], co-manager of the BlackRock World Mining trust, explains why investors should not ignore the asset class after its lacklustre performance in recent years

The allure of gold has diminished in recent years, weakened by the strength of the dollar, a lengthy bull market in equities, the end of quantitative easing, and a lack of any real inflationary pressures. In 2011, concerns over flat currency stability and the impact of QE drove a bull market in gold which led the price to rise above $1,900/oz. In 2013, markets began to acknowledge a recovery in the US and global economy would lead to tapering and, ultimately, the end of QE by the Federal Reserve. Investors that had sought to diversify away from flat currencies using gold ETFs reversed...