Anne Gudefin, PIMCO’s global equities portfolio manager, likes gold.

“The largest position in [our] fund is gold, which we think is a very good form of protection against what can go wrong,” said Gudefin in an interview with Fortune published on May 12.

“We were encouraged by the fact that a lot of the central banks, especially in Asia, are big buyers. We think that's an underlying trend that's very favorable for gold,” she said.

The latest IMF data show that the central banks that have added to their gold positions include Thailand, Mexico, and Russia.

These central banks, like PIMCO, are likely attracted by gold’s historic reputation as a store of value, especially at a time of heightened uncertainties.

On the economics side, uncertainties include the European debt crisis, the US housing market, the US budget deficit, the possible negative effects of QE2, the Chinese properties market, and Chinese inflation.

Globally, lingering concerns remain about potential oil disruptions from unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.

Against this backdrop, gold, an immutable precious metal that stored value for thousands of years and immune to all these uncertainties, looks particularly attractive to many investors.

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