Helga Pombal: Angola's Stardiam finds solution to the threat posed by lab-grown diamonds

Stardiam manager of production Helga Pombal told Rough&Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa on the sidelines of the Angola International Diamond Conference that lab-grown diamonds are creating a parallel market for more accessible stones, combined with lower...

11 november 2024

Ellah Muchemwa: ADPA to launch Africa's first diamond mining standard next year

The African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA), which is based in Luanda, Angola, and represents the interests of mainly African diamond producers and those with the potential to produce diamonds, will next year launch the Sustainable Development...

04 november 2024

Dmitry Fedorov: I want our jewelry to be displayed at a museum in the future

Dmitry Fedorov is the founder of the eponymous jewelry house. His main focus is the creation of Orthodox-inspired premium luxury jewelry of high artistic merit. He told Rough&Polished about his journey in the jewelry industry, about choosing the ‘Orthodox...

28 october 2024

Responsible business practices ‘no longer optional’, says WDC President Feriel Zerouki

The president of the World Diamond Council takes time out of her busy schedule to tell Rough&Polished readers about the critical work of the WDC. Zerouki, the first female present of the body, which includes all the important industry organizations among...

14 october 2024

James Campbell: Botswana Diamonds optimistic as it enters uncharted territory of using AI for mineral exploration

London-listed Botswana Diamonds has expressed optimism about the company’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) to scan the exploration database in Botswana to look for new mineralised deposits. Company managing director James Campbell told Rough...

07 october 2024

WGC: Gold prices rise in 2017

23 january 2018
The World Gold Council (WGC) has recently published its 'Outlook 2018' annual report on global economic trends and their impact on gold market.
According to the organisation, in 2017, investors added gold to their portfolios with inflows into global gold-backed exchange-traded funds totalling US$8.2bn, while gold’s positive price momentum continued due to increased incomes and magnified uncertainty. Gold is considered a safe-haven asset and gets more expensive during market uncertainty.
Over the course of the year, the gold price rose across many major currencies. The Indian rupee and Chinese yuan gold price rose by 5.1% and 3.5% respectively, while in US dollars the gold price was up 13.5%, its biggest annual gain since 2010, outperforming all major asset classes other than stocks.
As 2018 begins, WGC expects that biggest price movers for gold will be such factors as synchronised global economic growth, shrinking central bank balance sheets and rising rates, frothy asset prices and market transparency.
WGC believes that these trends will support demand and maintain gold’s relevance as a strategic asset. The organisation also believes that the confluence of the key trends it has highlighted for 2018 could be supportive of gold demand.
As far as long-term perspective for gold is concerned, prices can get a boost from a range of factors. Gold has been a source of return for investors’ portfolios; its correlation to major asset classes has been low in both expansionary and recessionary periods; it is a mainstream asset that is as liquid as other financial securities and it has historically improved portfolio risk-adjusted returns.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished