Gold

Global shares and US treasury yields fell on Thursday and Friday while gold soared as investors sought safety following a passenger jet crash in Ukraine.

Investors are moving back towards safe haven assets such as gold as ongoing violence in Iraq hits markets.

David Jane, founder of Darwin Investment Managers, has bought back into gold and gold miners, in the view the asset bottomed at the end of last year.

Gold ETFs have started seeing inflows for the first time in months, as political turmoil in the Ukraine and weak Chinese data pushed investors into safe havens.

Russian shares dropped to a five-year low yesterday, weighing on global markets, while the gold price jumped as the Ukraine crisis intensified.

The gold price has rebounded off lows seen at the end of last year, having endured one of its worst ever years in performance terms, but is the rally about to run out of steam?

Weaker US data and ongoing expectations of tighter UK monetary policy have helped boost gold and sterling respectively as the dollar loses ground.

The Ruffer investment trust's protective assets have "earned their keep" so far this year, countering losses from its position in Japanese equities, the managers have said.

COMMODITIES

Asset under management in gold exchange-traded products (ETP) almost halved during 2013 as gold prices dived, driving investors out of the asset class.