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Beyond the glitter: An empirical assessment of the true risk and hedging role of precious metals

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  • Sen, Chitrakalpa
  • Chakrabarti, Gagari

Abstract

Precious metals are an essential component of asset class within the global financial market offering diverse benefits. Being significant store of value, they are immune to default risk, provide hedge against inflation and are deemed to be safe haven. This highlights the importance of precious metals in the broader context of financial and economic stability. This paper focuses on the S&P Precious Metal Index (PMI) to explore its resilience towards financial market risks and examines if it could offer effective hedge during crises. Using Markov Regime Switching model, we find significant volatility persistence in PMI returns undermining its suitability for dynamic hedging. However, absence of speculative trends makes the PMI a safe asset. Further, financial market stress, as revealed by estimated Component GARCH and Discrete Threshold Models, does not affect the unique and market risk of investing in PMI. Although we could not establish PMI as a strong safe haven or a zero-beta asset, its potential to be included in a risk-avert investor's portfolio cannot be negated. Its consistently low and stress-invariant time-varying beta safeguards wealth against losses. The role of PMI becomes particularly salient while considering portfolio optimization during crises. In recent years, particularly during and after the pandemic the hedging effectiveness of PMI has increased. There is, however, a point of concern. The market risk of PMI is explained mostly by its lagged values rather than exogenous factors like market stress. Given the endogenous nature of market risks, chaotic dynamics might be in operation making forecasting and regulating PMI prices difficult.

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  • Sen, Chitrakalpa & Chakrabarti, Gagari, 2024. "Beyond the glitter: An empirical assessment of the true risk and hedging role of precious metals," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:96:y:2024:i:c:s0301420724006056
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2024.105238
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Precious metals; Safe haven; Hedging effectiveness; Volatility regimes; Time-varying beta; Markov regime switching model; Conditional correlation; Market stress; Discrete threshold regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • C58 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Financial Econometrics
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G17 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Financial Forecasting and Simulation

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