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Christine St Anne is Morningstar's online funds and ETF editor.

In the early 1980s British band Spandau Ballet released a song titled Gold. The song became an international hit and today it remains one of the band's most iconic hits. The word behind the song included "indestructible". 

Indeed for today's investors gold as an investment is proving indestructible providing investors with a refuge against the unfolding economic storm.

Europe's debt woes just got worse following Italy's plunging markets while serious questions still remain in the US.

It's not surprising that many are now retreating to the safety of gold.

"Gold provides investors with a safe haven during times of volatility or as an inflation hedge to maintain capital protection," BetaShares head of investment strategy and distribution Drew Corbett says.

There are of course a number of ways to tap into the gold story.

Exchange-traded commodities

There are two exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) that give investors access to physical gold including the ETFS Physical Gold (GOLD and the BetaShares Gold Bullion ETF (QAU).

The providers of these ETFs invest directly in the underlying commodities which are gold bullions. These ETFs then track the gold price. The gold bullions are held by an external custodian and the bullion stored in vaults.

ETCs are traded on an exchange and have the same buy/sell flexibility of a share, however, ETCs do not incur an equity risk that comes with investing in shares.

"Investors are given direct title to the metal. For instance each share of GOLD represents a beneficial interest in one-tenth of one fine troy ounce of physical gold," Morningstar co-head of research Tim Murphy says.

The QUA is hedged in Australian dollars which provides investors with a currency hedge against movements in the Australian dollar and the US exchange rate.

BetaShares' Corbett says that gains in the US dollar price of gold bullion have been largely eroded by the strength in the Australian dollar relative to the US dollar.

For example, during December 2008 to May 2011, spot gold prices increased 74 per cent but unhedged spot gold returned 14 per cent.

"This is because a rise in the value of the Australian dollar eliminated much of the benefit of the rising value of gold which is priced in US dollars," Corbett says.