Gold investors make 120pc return in four months

Gold investors make 120pc return in four months
Private investors who have bought exchange traded funds that track the performance of gold miners have more than doubled their money since October last year.

By Richard EvansLast Updated: 12:18PM GMT 25 Feb 2009
A gold investment that private investors can buy on the stock market has gained in value by more than 120pc in four months.
The Russell Global Gold fund, an "exchange traded fund" or ETF that tracks the performance of gold miners, has produced a total gain of 121pc since October 27 last year.
Meanwhile, a similar investment that tracks the gold price has risen by 33pc since November 21 and by 65pc since this time last year. The gold price broke through the psychologically important $1,000 an ounce level last week.
The Russell Global Gold fund, which tracks the performance of the world's largest gold miners, is the strongest performing equity ETF among those provided by ETF Securities.
"The fund continues to benefit from investors' positive view on the gold price and the leverage to the gold price gold equities provide," said ETF Securities. "Despite recent price increases, gold equities are still trading at a substantial discount to their historical levels relative to the gold price."
Investors can buy ETFs from stockbrokers in exactly the same way as buying a normal share. The stockbroker will charge its usual fee, while the company that manages the ETF will deduct its charges, which may typically be about 0.5pc, from the income produced by the fund.
ETF Securities said its S-Net Global Agri Business and Russell Global Coal fund ETFs had also performed strongly, rising by 29pc and 33pc respectively over the past three months.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/4804472/Gold-investors-make-120pc-return-in-four-months.html