Hedge funds’ bullish bets on gold jump to four-year high
Hedge funds and other large speculators boosted their net-long position in gold.
Legendary investor Rick Rule, Chief Executive Officer, Sprott US Holdings, speaking ahead of his appearance at Mines and Money Asia, is positive on gold equities for 2018.
“I am bullish on precious metals equities and specifically gold equities. Precious metals equities are reasonably priced and within this gold equities relatively underperformed in 2017. In 2018 I expect gold equities to play catch up”.
There are many reasons why miners, investors and financiers are coming back to gold. For Randy Smallwood, the brilliant and combative CEO of Wheaton Precious Metals, which last year changed its name from Silver Wheaton, it was a recognition that the best opportunities within the streaming business now lay in gold.
“There aren’t as many new lead/zinc mines coming online where of course silver is a significant by-product. Unfortunately, there has been a lack of investment in the lead/zinc space. However, this isn’t the case with copper, where of course gold is a significant by-product. When we’ve looked at new opportunities, approximately 75% have been gold focused.”
For investors, like Jayant Bhandari, CEO of Anarcho Captial, it is due to geo-political and economic stability that gold has become more important on his radar.
“The systemic—economic as well as political—risks of various sorts that exist around the world will push more people towards gold, as they try to protect their wealth from negative-yielding economies in many parts of the world.”
And sometimes, as with Ross Beaty, Chairman of Pan-American Silver and now Chairman of Equinox Gold, the opportunity to go into gold was an opportunity he couldn’t refuse.
“I was very attracted to the management team as well as the initial assets of the business, which I believe are the building blocks of our future success… this is an exciting opportunity”
Gold miners will be out in force at Mines and Money Asia, with over 30 projects from around the world being showcased on the exhibition floor and within the programme including Merdeka Copper Gold, Polar X, SolGold, White Rock Minerals, Xanadu Mines to name a few.
Leading gold investors who will be in attendance include: Andrew Ballingal, Chief Executive Officer, Ballingal Investment Advisors ; Stefan White, Portfolio Manager, LIM Advisors; Willem Middelkoop, Founder & CIO, Commodity Discovery Fund; Alain Corbani, Head of Mining and Natural Resources and Portfolio Manager, FINANCE SA and Thomas Puppendahl, Founder & Managing Director, Chancery Asset Management.
Now in its eleventh year, Mines and Money Asia is the largest gathering of miners and investors in Asia, with this year’s event expecting to see over 150 mining companies, along with over 600 investors in attendance in Hong Kong from 3-6 April 2018.
Mines and Money Asia is free to attend for buy-side investors, click here to claim your complimentary investor pass.
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