To: gold$10k who wrote (11040 ) 4/24/2002 11:31:46 AM From: kirby49 Respond to VT:``Even though it has done well lately, I still don't see a great role for gold in a portfolio,'' says Morningstar's Christopher Davis, pointing out that efforts to time the market usually backfire, while even long-term investors have met with severe losses. He thinks better ways exist to protect against inflation and hedge investments -- the traditional reason for buying a gold fund. Indeed, many precious-metals fund managers and analysts still say the primary motivation for buying a gold fund is as a defensive play. Fund managers are optimistic that gold will climb to $350 or even $400 an ounce over the next year, but they warn that at its current $300, climbing higher will be a tough slog in the near term.
