Gold funds give sheen to investor returns, help offset losses from equities

Allocation to yellow metal, helps MF investors offset hit on equity and debt investments

Gold funds have been the best-performing category in the last few months, beating all other fund categories by a wide margin. According to data from Value Research, gold funds gave returns of 18.6 per cent in the three-month period, which was significantly higher than nine per cent returns given by the long duration schemes; the second-best category in the same period.

"The rally in gold prices has helped investors with exposures to gold funds mitigate the hit on their equity or debt investments seen in recent months," said Vidya Bala, mutual fund expert.  

In one-month period, gold funds have delivered