A confluence of factors has driven gold bullion in the past year to US$1,330 an ounce, from US$1,100, in the process also giving a healthy boost to gold stocks. And while Robert Cohen, a long-time gold specialist and vice-president at Toronto-based 1832 Asset Management LP, is reluctant to give a precise price target where gold might be in another year's time, he maintains that conditions are in place to push the shiny metal ever higher.
"We've had a combination of factors supporting gold, from fear of currencies devaluing, to a massive expansion of global liquidity and central-bank easing and negative real interest rates in many countries," says Cohen, who oversees Dynamic Precious Metals and Dynamic Strategic Gold Class.
In the 12 months ended July 15, the former fund returned 117.9%, versus 32% for the S&P/TSX Global Gold Total Return Index. The latter fund, which holds about 30% bullion in its portfolio, rose 65.6% in the same period. Cohen has managed Dynamic Precious Metals since January 2000, and the bullion-oriented Dynamic Strategic Gold since its inception in August 2009.