Gold is one of the most regularly-traded commodities and is a precious metal that is continually in demand.
Gold is rare, increasing its competitive demand, at an estimated 170,000 tonnes worldwide.
Used widely in the jewelry trade, gold is also purchased as an investment in its bar and base form and used to a lesser extent in industry. Gold is mainly sourced from China, Russia, Australia and the US.
As a commodity, the value of gold generally remains unaffected by inflation or geo-political factors and is hence seen as one of the safer commodity investments.
