Why is GOLD noble?

Gold from many centuries has been the apex investment, if we see our history. Be it any civilization, gold has always been for the royal and rich. But how can this metal be associated with such an intrinsic wealth, when there are many more metals available to us.

The thing is, historically Gold's importance was due to something called 'non-reactive-nobility'. Gold is one of the metal which is highly non-reactive and non-corrosive in nature. Gold does not react with water, air and even acids. This property of gold means the value of metal in terms of weight and quality cannot depreciate over time, which gives gold a lot of time value. Moreover, gold has always been found in its elemental form in nature. Thus gold is not mined in the mineral ore form, whereas it is mined in elemental form. Combining these factors together, we can rationalize why gold has been allocated high importance in the past.

While these factors hold true today also, the valuation of this metal is not primarily based on these factors when we talk modern economics. Gold is not a very scarce metal. It is much more abundant than many metals we know, yet it is valued highly. Thus, it can be a tad-bit difficult to understand why this metal is so favored in valuations and why it is heavily traded by enthusiasts.

The world economy is pegged by 2 instruments; i.e. US Dollar and Gold. Us Dollar is termed as a Global Currency because you can use it many more countries than just USA. Thus the Central Banks all over the world maintain reserves of both US Dollar and Gold. The demand for maintaining gold reserves by these central banks is what gives gold such a premium. The other reason can be plotted to the huge amount of trade this commodity is floating on various exchanges of the world. This provides significant liquidity to gold as a commodity to be traded at premium,

In India, gold is also sought after as an investment. Indian households have always been practicing the habit of accumulating gold to fight inflation traditionally. Gold has also always been a part of customs and rituals of Indian Weddings. Thus, Gold has always retained and is foreseen to retain its yellow sheen as always.