Mumbai, Aug. 12 -- World Gold Council stated yesterday that investors have long recognised the benefits of investing in commodities. Over time, these investments have been shown to improve portfolio diversification, offering inflation protection and an element of smoothing across economic cycles. Most investors access this asset class via commodity indices, which invariably include gold. WGC noted that gold's weighting within broad commodity indices can understate its importance as a strategic portfolio component. Gold's liquidity extends beyond futures markets through deep OTC and ETF trading, while its available supply extends beyond annual mine production through a large above-ground stock that can be recycled, resold and reallocated. As...