Author: Paul Ploumis17 Jul 2014 Last updated at 08:29:45 GMT

Most gold investors see gold miners outperforming the precious metal over the next year.

A new survey from J.P. Morgan found that 71% of gold investors said they expect gold equities to post stronger returns than bullion over the next 12 months, compared with only 48% a year ago.

The good news for gold investors, however, is that sentiment has vastly improved this year. Only 16% of respondents said they expect gold prices to fall in the next 12 months, compared with 30% last year. Gold prices fell by 28% in 2013, which was the worst decline in more than three decades and ended a 12-year bull market.

The survey also found that 68% of investors expect gold prices to move higher over the next three years, up from 60% last year. Most don’t expect much higher prices, however, with the two key opinions being that gold would settle at either US$1,300 an ounce or US$1,500 an ounce in the long term.

Perhaps the most important component of the survey was that more investors are now looking to increase their gold and gold equity holdings, with 33% of those surveyed saying they would, compared with 17% last year. When looking at a 36-month time frame, 43% of investors said they expected to increase holdings versus 30% last year.

“The results also suggest more clarity in terms of gold’s direction in investors’ minds with higher numbers of investors wanting to either increase or decrease exposure as opposed to just maintain exposure,” the survey noted.

J.P. Morgan surveyed 99 fund managers, with 27% of those being managers of precious metal funds, 30% resource funds and the rest being generalist funds.

Courtesy: financialpost.com