A Telegraph Report On An Investment Idea Whose Time Has Come

The investment class is commodity ETFs, of which gold is one. These ETFs are presented as a convenient and lower-risk means of investing in commodities, which previously required buying shares in commodity-related companies or futures contracts.

"Until recently, the market for commodities investment has been largely restricted to sophisticated investors," said Zak Cherkaoui, commodity index structurer at UBS. "A broader investor base in the UK will now be able to gain exposure to the commodities market in an efficient and effective way using the LSE regulated and traded UBS ETC product."

There is now a record amount of cash – €23bn (£21bn) – in exchange-traded commodity products and last year saw net inflows in all six commodity sectors of agriculture, broad indices, energy, industrial metals, livestock and precious metals, totalling €9.7bn – or €800m per month.

The article notes, however, that gold's share of all commodity ETF investment has been dropping of late. The expected hot areas of ETF investing are non-precious metals, spurred by demand from mainland China, and commodity index funds.