Gold, gigabytes and good shoes

Each year, we at Business Maverick choose the top stocks we think are worth investing in over the next year. We ‘invested’ R10 per stock for 10 local stocks in December 2024 and ended on 17 December 2025 with R144.10: a portfolio return of 44.1% year on year. Over the same period, the FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index gave investors a return of 36.7%. Compiled by Neesa Moodley, Ed Stoddard, Lindsey Schutters and Kara le Roux

- By Ed Stoddard

Workers truck gold-bearing ore at AngloGold Ashanti's Cuiaba gold mine in Sabara, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

(Photo: Pedro Lobo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

There are those in our team who believe that the strategy must be to go deep and long on gold and copper in 2026.

Any exposure to the two key commodities will already be tech stock picks by association, because the artificial intelligence (AI) and electrification booms rely on these precious metals at a component level.

The gold price rocketed in 2025 to previously unheard-of highs, with $4,000 an ounce reached in October.

There will be dips and “corrections”, but gold’s immediate future looks so bright that it needs to wear shades.

Political and economic uncertainty in the age of US President Donald Trump (which boosts the precious metal’s “safe haven” status), robust central bank demand (especially among emerging markets seeking to diversify from the dollar), and growing industrial uses (including for AI) are among the key factors that will underpin gold’s price even at elevated levels.