Fink sees investment opportunities in gold

By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Short-term investment opportunities lie in gold and commodities on which the world relies heavily, and in green energy in the long term, International Standard Asset Management head Stanley Fink said.

Fink, the former chief executive of hedge fund manager Man Group (EMG.L), said gold was "the ultimate earth currency".

ISAM invests in commodity and financial futures as well as forex and plans to relaunch a gold fund in December. Its ISAM Trend fund, launched in June 2007, has made a return of 17 percent in two years.

"I think gold will take value as the world's ultimate reserve currency," he said in South Africa, a major producer of the precious metal.

Gold hit a record high above $1,095 for the second straight day on Wednesday, but retreated on Thursday as the dollar rose ahead of policy decisions from the UK and the euro zone, which curbed appetite for assets seen as higher risk.

"In the short term there is going to be the effects of how individual companies and countries escape from the financial tsunami in the last 18 months," Fink told Reuters.

"In the medium term, countries who thrive will be the ones who have goods and materials -- be they commodities -- the rest of the world needs and who are able to access those markets because the demand will return in the next three to five years."

Africa is well positioned to provide a solution to climate change because of year-round sunlight in most countries, Fink said.