Gold proved one of the most successful assets in 2022

The fact that gold traded at $ 1817 per ounce on the last trading day of 2022, or 0.62 per cent below the opening price at the beginning of the year, should not obscure the fact that the precious metal was one of the better investments even in the USA in the past trading year. Many American stock owners had quite different losses to face: the S&P 500 lost 19.44 per cent in the same period, the NASDAQ 100 almost 20 per cent, and the Dow Jones also performed very weakly, with -9.12 per cent.

Gold excelled as the best-performing asset class in many regions

While the Fed's seven consecutive interest rate hikes and thus the extreme dollar strength proved to be a serious obstacle for gold, making bonds more attractive again for US investors, the precious metal performed much better than other asset classes in Europe and Asia. Gold gained 6.3 per cent in the Eurozone, while regional benchmark indices such as the German DAX lost 12.35 per cent, and the French CAC 40 lost almost 9 per cent. The EURO STOXX was down 11.44 per cent at the end of 2022. In China, gold gained 9.19 per cent over the past year, while the Hang Seng Index lost 15.94 per cent. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index lost slightly less in 2022 at 10.37 per cent, while gold in yen appreciated 15.18 per cent over the same period.

Cryptocurrencies: weakest popular asset class in 2022

Bitcoin & Co, often called an alternative to gold as protection against inflation and a store of value, were among the biggest losers in the past year. The oldest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, lost 64 per cent, which is slightly less than the CIX 100 crypto index, tracking the performance of the 100 best-performing cryptocurrencies. The index value decreased by more than 67.81 per cent over the course of 2022.