You'd be mad not to buy gold

published 10 January 2011

Despite recent falls in the gold price Robin Griffiths, a technical strategist at Cazenove Capital, reckons that not owning the yellow metal "is a form of insanity".

"It may even show unhealthy masochistic tendencies, which might need medical attention", he told CNBC earlier this week. After hitting a (nominal) all-time high of $1,432 an ounce last month, the yellow metal has slipped back to $1,375, something Griffiths sees as a buying opportunity.

"Although it's been a top performer for each of the last 10 years, it's still in a linear trend... Eventually it will go exponential and make more in the last little bit than the whole of the 10-year trend."

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He also tipped commodity-based investments. The reason for his bullishness is that he believes that "the downward trend in the dollar is awesomely powerful". Thanks to the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing - money-printing effectively - program, the dollar "is going to be printed virtually into oblivion... (it's) crazy".

The gold price might have hit record levels last month but it is still some way off its inflation-adjusted peak. That came in 1980 when an ounce of gold cost roughly $2,300 in today's money.

(Our own gold expert Dominic Frisby has given his view on what will happen to the gold price over the next month or so - check it out here).

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.