ODL Markets launch Wine Index Investment

Investors are being invited to bet on fine wine futures as the market for top-tier wines bucks the credit crunch and downturn in the equity markets.

ODL Markets is launching a new spread betting service on the Liv-ex 100, the world’s leading index of fine wine prices, which has risen by 12% in the last year.

Over recent years, the prices of some of the finest wines in the world, such as Petrus, Latour and Lafite Rothschild, have risen rapidly, especially as a result of recent buying interest from Russia and China and the evolution of wine funds. As a result, buying these wines has become progressively more expensive, but with ODL’s new Wine Index, investors can share in future price rises, or falls, without worrying about storage, provenance or high dealing costs.

The Liv-ex 100 includes the most famous wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, the Rhone and Italy. Year on year the Liv-ex 100 has increased by 12% compared to -5.3% on the FTSE 100 and -6.7% on the S&P 500. Fine wine has also outperformed most equities and even gold over the last five years.

The Liv-ex 100 contract is ideal for investors who are looking to diversify their portfolio, hedge their cellar or simply speculate on the price of wine going up or down.

“Wine is more liquid than gold, more palatable than oil and has vastly outperformed the equity markets over the last year; it is potentially a new vehicle for investment portfolio diversification and for those wanting to see a greater return on their investments,” said Duncan Anderson, senior spread betting manager at ODL Markets. “In the current climate, individuals and institutions are looking for alternative investments and wine offers one such opportunity.”

James Miles, founding director of Liv-ex.com, agreed that the wine market has proved remarkably resilient.

“Despite the credit crunch prices have continued to make new highs,” he said. “This has, in part, been driven by the slashing of import duties in Hong Kong, the rise of the affluent middle class in Asia and Russia and the emergence of wine investment funds. With increasingly quality conscious Chateaux producing less wine than 10 years ago, this trend seems likely to continue

 

 

 

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