As the price of gold surges past its all-time highs of $2,440 per ounce, gold-focused mutual funds have powered ahead of the broader equity market indices.
Rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and growing expectations for eventual monetary policy easing from the US Federal Reserve have pushed gold prices up roughly 20% over the past month or so.
This has allowed gold-focused funds to almost double the gains of broader equity indices year-to-date: the MSCI World index for comparison has returned 10.5% so far in 2024.
Against this backdrop, FSA highlights five of the best performing gold strategies that are available for distribution Hong Kong and Singapore based on data from FE fundinfo*.
Franklin Gold and Precious Metals fund
The Franklin Gold and Precious Metals strategy is up 19.9% year-to-date.
The $447m fund is managed by Steve Land and Fred Fromm. Like most other gold-strategies, it is benchmarked against the FTSE Gold Mines Index.
This means it invests primarily in gold mining equities, with Newmont Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and Alamos Gold as its top-three positions.
Jupiter Gold and Silver
The Jupiter Gold and Silver strategy is up 16.8% year-to-date.
The $812m fund is run by Ned Naylor-Leyland, alongside Joe Lunn and Chris Mahoney. It invests in both gold and silver mining equities, as well as gold and silver bullion.
As well as being a store of monetary value, silver is used as an industrial component for solar panels and electronics.
Schroder ISF Global Gold
The Schroder ISF Global Gold strategy is up 15% year-to-date.
The $540m fund is managed by James Luke. Although it primarily invests in gold mining equities, it does have investments in certain silver miners such as Hochschild Mining.
BlackRock GF World Gold
The BlackRock GF World Gold fund is up 14.9% year-to-date.
The $4bn flagship fund from BlackRock is managed Evy Hambro and Tom Holl. Like the Schroder fund, despite having a primary focus on gold miners, it also invests in silver miners such as Pan American Silver Corp.
Ninety One Global Gold
The Ninety One Global Gold strategy is up 12.1% year-to-date.
This $468m fund is managed by George Cheveley. Like the funds above it invests predominantly in gold miners, although due to the nature of the deposits many often have copper exposure as well.
*Returns are measured in US dollar terms. The data only includes funds available to Singapore and/or Hong Kong investors based on the commodity sector as classified by FE fundinfo. This is not an exhaustive list of all strategies.
