The UAE is in third place globally with an average of 521,000 online searches for the price of gold every month, PhysicalGold.com, a London-based business within the precious metals market, said in a new report.

In the context of internet users, this is the equivalent of 58.45 online searches each month for gold price per 1,000 active internet users in UAE, said the PhysicalGold.com report.

PhysicalGold.com found that India is in the number one spot, with an average of 3,720,600 online searches per month from Indians trying to discover what the gold price is. That is the equivalent of 120,019 online searches each day.

In second place is the US, as there is an average of 2,506,000 online searches a month from Americans keen to find out what the gold price is.

In fourth place is the UK where there is an average of 519,300 online searches each month from Brits checking the price of gold.

Canada (381,400) and Australia (348,900) are among the other countries where there are more than 300,000 online searches per month from those monitoring the price of gold, respectively ranking fifth and sixth.

At the other end in 20th position is Bangladesh, where there are an average of 33,950 online searches a month from Bangladeshis interested in gold price.

Dan Fisher, a gold specialist from PhysicalGold.com, provides answers to five of the most asked questions about investing in gold:

Q: Is gold a good investment?
A: Gold is unlike volatile asset classes that generate quick returns, it has always been a steady investment vehicle that can deliver solid returns as a medium to long-term investment. Gold investing is unique as the price tends to increase when many other asset classes such as stocks and bonds fall, so it provides a good balance to your investment portfolio.

Q: How does gold investment work?
A: The idea behind gold investment is that the underlying value of gold increases over time. Historically this rate of increase is higher than inflation, so the value of your investment increases in real terms. Investing in gold can take the form of physical bar and coins, gold equity funds, mining shares or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Q: What key advice would you give to beginners?
A: Gold investing follows the common rules of buying the investment at a low price and selling at a higher price. There is no interest received for holding gold, so profits are only made on capital appreciation. The gold price tends to rise when the economy takes a downturn and other investments fall in value. The gold price can move down as well as up, so it’s advised to hold the gold over a medium to long-term period.

Q: What’s better, stocks or gold investment?
A: A mixture of gold and stocks is ideal.  Both investments can rise and fall in value. However, while stocks can fall to zero (if a company goes bankrupt), physical gold will always have its intrinsic value. Gold tends to rise when stocks fall, so the two have an inverse relationship.

Q: Is it better to buy gold coins or gold bars?
A: For most, buying coins is better than bars for gold investment. Coins provide more flexibility to sell small parts of the holding and can fetch higher prices when you wish to sell. In the same way that larger bars are cheaper per gram than small ones, buying gold coins in bulk can also achieve price discounts. – TradeArabia News Service