AAA Welcomes World Gold Council Predictions

Online, August 18, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Predictions from the World Gold Council (WGC), that demand for gold will remain strong in the second half of 2011, have been welcomed by alternative investment advocacy organisation, Alternative Asset Analysis (AAA).

Gold prices have soared in recent months as greater numbers of investors flee volatile traditional investments, such as equities, and plough their money into safer havens, such as precious metals, real estate and forestry. These alternative investments are growing in popularity as they often offer a means of diversifying an investment portfolio for the increasing numbers of risk-averse investors.

The WGC's managing director, Ajay Mitra, stated, "Going forward, we expect that the third quarter will see strong performance leading to a good fourth quarter. This is mainly as I don't see the equity market bouncing back, and realty sector struggling with high interest rates making loans costlier,"

He added, "The second quarter of 2011 has been excellent for investments in gold around the world, especially in India."

AAA's analysis partner, Anthony Johnson, agreed that the increased gold investment was a positive thing for the alternative investment market in general: "Fund managers are finding themselves under intense pressure to find strong alternative investment plans for their clients and gold is proving a good bet for many."

"Forestry is also proving popular as a less risky asset class as plantation management firms, like Greenwood Management, offer investors the opportunity to buy up plots of land that are planted in lucrative tree crops that will enjoy growing demand from Asian markets," he added.

The demand for gold in India during the second quarter of 2011 rose by an impressive 38 per cent compared with the same quarter a year before. "Who can blame investors for wanting to put their money into an asset that has seen prices rise so astronomically over the past six months?" asked Mr Johnson.