Latitude Horizon dumps gold as hedging characteristics fade

Added eight new equity positions in 2020

Gold no longer hedges equity risk in portfolios, Latitude Investment Management’s Freddie Lait has said, having recently sold his allocation to the precious metal in an unusually busy trading year.

Lait said 2020 had presented "an incredible opportunity for single-stock investors" to snap up shares in businesses that have been "trading very, very cheaply". After adding just one new equity position in the three years since launch, Lait said his Latitude Horizon fund had bought eight new stocks during 2020. These were largely Covid-exposed or cyclical businesses and funded by the fund's cash allocation. Lait said he had also topped up his gold holding in March after the metal had slipped to around $1,500. Gold had been used alongside inflation-linked US Treasuries, as a hedge to t...