Bullion Vault
A Survey of investors carried out by Japanese investment bank Nomura has found Buying Gold to be this year's number one investment choice.
The poll found that 19.5% of the 164 investors said they would Buy Gold and hold it to the end of the year. The next favourite assets were stocks and developed market investment grade corporate bonds, into which around 13% of respondents said they would invest money.
In Vietnam, however, Buying Gold has taken second place to golf, some press reports have suggested.
"Buying a membership [in a golf club] is better than putting cash in the bank, better than putting it in the stock market and better than putting it in gold," says management consultant Do Din Thuy, quoted by the Wall Street Journal.
However, Tran Tri Dung, managing partner at Hanoi-based DHVP Research & Consultancy, disagrees with the notion of golf club membership as an investment.
"In the lift of my residential building," he tells BullionVault, "there are advertisements for golf club memberships at discount prices."
"Some neighbors who play golf told me that more golfers want to sell memberships that they bought in the boom. The ongoing costs of playing golf are really a burden now."
Dung adds that Buying Gold is still considered a legitimate option for many Vietnamese.
"Given the current economic turbulence, low interest rate [relative to] high inflation and quick depreciation of the Dong, a normal person may consider putting savings in gold, US Dollars or the stock market. Why gold? Despite the price fluctuation, gold is a real asset in the Vietnamese mind."
In 2010, Vietnam spent the equivalent of 3.1% of gross domestic product Buying Gold, according to World Gold Council and International Monetary Fund data.
Source: bullionvault
