Best ways to invest in gold that hit record highs in H1

New Indian Express

27-07-2025

Gold, which has never ceased to be the safe-haven asset so far, has gained 26% in the first half of 2025 becoming one of the top-performing major asset classes. The precious metal has scaled 26 new all-time highs during this period in global markets—including once crossing the sensitive Rs 1 lakh/10 grams mark in the domestic markets when the metal crossed $3,500/ounce-mark in the third week of April. This 26 new life-time highs came in after breaking through a 40-new-record streaks in 2024 when it had rallied 24% over a 22% rally in the previous year.
What makes the metal so alluring to investors? There are many a reason, with the shining allure it has for women as a jewellery (our households are sitting over close to 26,000 tonnes of gold in jewellery alone) and its ready fungibility/encashability when in need of ready cash being the top reasons for its allurement.
Let's look at some of the best ways to invest in this metal, even though investment experts recommend allocating only a small portion (5–10%) of your portfolio to precious metals.
According to the World Gold Council, a combination of a weaker US dollar, range-bound interest rates and a highly uncertain geo-economic environment has resulted in strong investment demand for gold. Another equally important driver is the continuing central bank demands led by the Reserve Bank and the central bank of China among others.
The council sees at least 5% more spike in prices during the course of the year and 10-15% more if current volatile economic conditions deteriorate further exacerbating stagflationary pressures—that's the metal reaching $3,840/ounce by end December and translating into an annual return of 40%. But many Wall Street watchers have predicted the metal hitting the $4,000/ounce mark by December.
Experts recommend allocating only a small portion, say 5–10% of your investment portfolio to precious metals, including silver and the following are the best ways to take exposure to this metal. The easiest way is investing in sovereign gold bonds (SGBs) launched in 2015, but since last year the SGBs have been discontinued. Starting 2015, the RBI had launched 67 SGB tranches-- each being an eight-year instrument with a five-year lock-in--issuing 14.7 crore units. They were listed and traded in the cash segment of the BSE and the NSE and investors could buy and sell them through demat accounts.
Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
Given that no new SGBs are being issued, the best option available to own non-physical gold is to go in for gold ETFs which track the domestic physical prices of the metal. Each gold ETF unit represents the physical gold and is based on gold prices and invest in physical bullion. One gold ETF unit equals 1 gram of gold, backed by high-purity physical metal.
Why ETFs? Because they are safe and have higher liquidity as they are listed and are traded every day. Though, there are brokerage charges they are way less than the making charges on physical jewellery. The expense ratio in gold ETFs is also lower than that of gold MFs.
On the negative side, since ETFs track the price of gold, they are subject to volatility. To invest in an ETF, one needs to have a demat account. There are entry and exit loads and the investor has to pay brokerage every time.
Gold Mutual Funds
Gold mutual funds are open-ended funds that invest in the units of a gold ETF with the ultimate goal of creating wealth using the potential of gold as a commodity. Gold MF units are priced differently-- in the form of net asset value disclosed at the end of the trading session—as opposed to gold ETFs which are linked to physical prices.
Since gold MFs are actively managed, they have the potential to outperform the metal price over time. They also offer the convenience of investing through a fund house.
On the negatives, gold MFs take a higher expense ratio than ETFs, typically around 1-2% apart from the risk of underperformance-- the return can be lower than gold price over time.
In comparison to gold ETFs, gold MFs have low minimum investment requirements, making them more accessible for retail investors. Also, you don't need a demat account to invest in this form of gold.