Gold To Be Best Performing Asset For the Rest of The Year UBS Poll Finds - Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-22/gold-to-be-best-performing-asset-for-the-rest-of-the-year-ubs-poll-finds.html
Gold will be the best-performing asset for the rest of the year as investors seek to protect wealth from sovereign debt risks and economic turbulence, according to about 30 percent of respondents in a UBS AG survey.

The survey was conducted last week at a UBS seminar in Wolfsberg, Switzerland, of central bank reserve managers, multilateral institutions and sovereign wealth funds, the bank said in a report dated June 18. More than 25 percent said global equities would be the best performer, followed by U.S. Treasuries. Gold was the most popular response. Representatives of some 80 institutions attended.

Bullion reached a record $1,265.30 an ounce yesterday and has climbed 13 percent this year as investors bought the metal to protect wealth amid Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. Gold has outperformed other commodities as global equities declined, and holdings in exchange-traded funds backed by the metal reached all-time highs, while coin sales from mints accelerated.

“So long as fears about global debt sustainability and sovereign risk remain heightened, gold will continue to rise,” London-based UBS analyst Edel Tully said today in a separate report. “Against this backdrop, it is little wonder that nearly a quarter of respondents expect gold will be the most important reserve currency in 25 years’ time.”

Almost 50 percent of respondents said the dollar would be the most important reserve currency in 25 years. In third place, about 15 percent said an Asian currency will fulfill the role, UBS said. The euro came last at 6 percent.

CLICK HERE to continue reading this article. To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net. June 22,2010