OREANDA-NEWS. March 09, 2011. CJSC Troika Dialog AM reports the launch of open-ended equity fund "Troika Dialog – Precious Metals Companies" 1. Shares in the fund went on sale on February 28, 2011.

"Troika Dialog – Precious Metals Companies" is a new instrument on the Russian equity market combining the advantages of investing in precious metals with the opportunity to participate in the growth of metals sector firms.

The assets of open-ended equity fund "Troika Dialog – Precious Metals Companies" will primarily be invested in the equities and depositary slips of Russian companies mining gold and other precious metals. The fund will also invest in ETFs including equities and depository slips of precious metals companies on foreign markets, enabling effective diversification of non-systemic Russian country risks. The Fund's investment strategy seeks to achieve long-term capital growth, focusing on appealing investment stories delivering maximum value appreciation through growth of prices on precious metals. Securities are selected on the basis of detailed fundamental analysis.

Troika Dialog AM's new fund envisages an active management strategy and includes the most promising equities of the sector's fastest-growing companies. Share values of precious metals-mining companies strongly depend upon prices on the metals themselves. Investing in the equities of such companies, investors receive the opportunity to participate in both rising prices on precious metals and the organic growth of the companies themselves.

According to Oleg Larichev, Chief Investment Officer at Troika Dialog AM, "Our new fund delivers a much broader range of opportunities than traditional investments in gold. The fund invests in the equities of gold-mining firms as well as companies mining other precious metals, particularly silver and platinum. An important factor boosting the fund’s appeal is its strong liquidity, something investors appreciate more and more after the world financial crisis."

Shares in open-ended equity fund "Troika Dialog – Precious Metals Companies" are available to retail investors. Applications to purchase, exchange and redeem shares in the fund may be submitted from Monday to Friday, while the minimum initial investment sum is R30,000. Troika Dialog AM aims to attract approximately R1 bln to the new fund within one year.

According to Anton Rakhmanov, Managing Director at Troika Dialog AM, "Precious metals, gold in particular, have a broad range of unique qualities making them a separate investment class unto themselves. In particular, during stock market downturns, the price of gold rises or remains stable, and does not correlate with other asset classes, making metal a protective instrument in the event of global cataclysms, as well as an excellent means of diversification. Historical statistics only confirm the fact that gold is an effective instrument for hedging risks relating to inflation and dollar weakening. We're optimistic regarding further growth of precious metals prices, especially given the limited reserves and low growth of extraction together with stably rising demand in the investment (given rising geopolitical risks), jewelry and industrial (due to the global economic recovery and continued emerging market growth) segments."

At the global level, gold accounts for just 1% of investment portfolios, a very low figure for this particular asset class. Given today's continued high levels of geopolitical risk, as well as loose monetary policy both in the West and on emerging markets resulting in higher world inflation rates, the relevance of including gold and precious metals in any investment portfolio will only increase.

Ensuring superior management of open-ended equity fund "Troika Dialog – Precious Metals Companies" are the market-leading Research teams of Troika Dialog AM and Standard Bank, an emerging-markets champion based in South Africa – a world leader by gold reserves and extraction volumes, ensuring high-quality analysis on the precious metals market and precious metals firms.