Palladium, a very rare precious metal, has become the most successful investment this year, with demand for it constantly growing, mainly due to the needs of the car industry. The worst investment was said to be Bitcoin which led the ranking last year. The ranking was compiled by FinExpertiza analysts, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.
Out of the fourteen leading instruments only nine brought actual profit in rubles. Ruble itself was not in the ranking. The RUR 300K ($4.3K) hidden ‘under the mattress’ last January would now be worth around RUR 290K ($4K). The purchasing power of the Russian currency dropped by more than 3%.
The least profitable investment, Bitcoin, demonstrated more impressive results, namely a 71% decrease. That is, RUR 300K lost more than 213K ($3K) in worth. The US dollar brought its holders a profit of 8%, or RUR 24K ($345) while euro’s worth grew by around 1% (RUR 3.6K or $45). Interestingly, classic metals such as gold, silver and platinum showed very weak results: precious metal accounts lost 15% (gold and silver) and 6% (platinum). As a rule, such assets rise in value during crises. At the same time, palladium brought 10% more than the real ruble profit, that is, over RUR 30K per RUR 300K.
“If we look at the past two years, we will see that palladium has become the only metal with a positive yield,” said FinExpertiza General Director Nina Kozlova. “For the past two years, the earning power of impersonal metal accounts has dropped in almost all metals.”
The high price for palladium is explained by its rarity. It is used in jewelry-making and in the car industry, and the automotive industry demand for it makes palladium a highly valued metal.