The price of gold has surged to its highest value on record amid volatile stock markets and global economic uncertainty, as investors move their money to what they hope is a "safe haven".
The price of gold per ounce rose to US$3,500 ($5,477) on Tuesday, the highest value it has reached since records began. It later dropped back to around US$3,280 ($5,165).
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund is predicting global economic growth will fall by 0.5 per cent, as the economies of the United States and China weaken.
Dr Pramod Kumar Yadav, a lecturer in finance at the University of Sydney Business School, earlier told SBS News the recent stock market crashes are due to the uncertainty that economic measures like trade tariffs can create, making stock markets risky for investors.
"There are also going to be people moving money from risky assets like the stock market to safer assets like cash, gold, and government bonds," he said.
Gold has historically been considered a reliable commodity for investors, immune to stock market crashes and government decisions.
Does gold have any real value?
Honorary professor Andrew Stoeckel, an economist from the Australian National University, told SBS News gold has no "intrinsic" economic value.
"How would having a bucket of gold on a desert island help you? It would be useless, you can't eat it, you can't plant crops with it. But people like shiny stuff," he said.
Source: SBS News
And while both gold and silver are precious metals, the latter has physical applications such as being a good conductor of electricity, which gold lacks, he added.
He said the appeal of gold over the centuries is that it is a physical, tangible object that people believe governments and institutions will continue to "honour and value".
How would having a bucket of gold on a desert island help you? It would be useless, you can't eat it, you can't plant crops with it. But people like shiny stuff.Andrew Stoeckel, Australian National University
"There have been periods of high uncertainty, and people have flocked to gold, but again, gold has no intrinsic value. Just the belief that it does," Stoeckel said.
Peter Swan, a professor of finance from the University of NSW Business School, told SBS News gold, like any commodity, is based on supply and demand, and that the supply of gold is unlikely to spike.
"Unless another explorer like Columbus comes across a big bucket of gold in the Americas, we're unlikely to see a change," he said.
How does investing in gold work?
Swan said investing in gold is no different from other forms of investment, as you still get a return for your money.
"They all exist on a spectrum and have different proportions of cash or earnings in returns. Shares have a dividend yield of around 4 or 5 per cent, while investing in housing gives a lower yield of around 2 per cent," he said.
"Gold has zero cash component because the expected appreciation is far higher."
There are several ways to invest in gold, including buying physical gold, such as jewellery, or bullion directly from the Royal Australian Mint.
You can also buy shares in a gold exchange-traded fund, where gold is bought on behalf of shareholders.
Will gold prices continue to rise?
Swan predicted the popularity of gold and its value would continue to rise.
"The beauty of gold is that the supply is relatively fixed, and that's going to continue, and political and economic uncertainty are probably going to get a lot worse. So we're going to see the price of gold, I think, rise even higher," he said.
He pointed to US President Donald Trump's "rocky" relationship with Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell as just one reason investors were losing faith in the stock market.
"There may be a resurrection of these crazy tariff arrangements, which would kill the global economy, in which case gold, of course, would be seen as a very safe haven in such turbulent times."
