By Thomas McMahon
Investors in silver ETFs have beaten the gold bugs in 2012 according to data from FE Analytics, with the price of the former metal doubling the returns of the latter.

This means that silver has outperformed gold over five, three and one-year periods, despite getting less attention from investors and the press.

According to Nicholas Brooks, head of research and investment strategy at ETF Securities, 2013 could be another good year for the metal, which is likely to do well in an improving world economy.

“Increasing signs of improving global growth and continued strong central bank commitment to highly accommodative monetary policy, indicates that the first part of next year has the potential to be a good one for cyclical and risky assets,” he said.

“In this environment, commodities could perform well as an asset class, with more growth sensitive commodities such as base metals and the white precious metals having the potential to perform most strongly.”

The price of silver rose by 3.3% in 2012, compared to1.67% from gold.

Silver has also beaten gold over three and five year periods, returning 70 per cent more over three and five year periods, and 57% more over the past 12 months.

Over five years, the price of silver has risen 540.28 per cent, while gold is up 375.75%.

By comparison, only two funds in the entire IMA universe have made more than 100% over that time period – Aberdeen Global Asian Smaller Companies and Aberdeen Global Emerging Markets Smaller Companies.

FE Analytics data shows that this outperformance has come at the cost of greater volatility, though.
Courtesy: FE Trustnet