White Oak Capital AMC's in-house models are recommending zero exposure to silver and the lowest permissible allocation to gold, with Chief Investment Officer Ramesh Mantri saying equities are clearly the more attractive asset class at this point.
Speaking to NDTV Profit, Mantri said the fund's multi-asset model evaluates relative valuations across equities, fixed income, and gold. At present, equities rank first, fixed income second, and gold third.
"If I had more freedom, I would have had lower exposure to gold also," he said, adding that regulatory guidelines for multi-asset funds require a minimum 10% allocation to commodities, which constrains how far the fund can reduce its gold position.
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Mantri said gold is a fear and uncertainty trade, and with global conditions stabilising, the case for holding large allocations weakens. He noted that White Oak had carried as much as 24% of its multi-asset portfolio in gold roughly two and a half years ago, when the setup was more favourable.
On silver, the call is unambiguous. The models recommend zero exposure currently.
Mantri said he would have found crude oil an interesting commodity play a few months ago, but that opportunity has passed with prices having corrected sharply following signs of a Middle East ceasefire.
For now, the fund is fully allocated to gold within the commodity sleeve, but at the floor level.
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