New Delhi, Sept. 17 -- For investors, diversification is not just about spreading money across investments. What matters is whether those investments actually behave differently when markets move.

If all the assets in a portfolio fall together during a market downturn, owning more of them may not provide much diversification.

A recent study by WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund shows that Indian equity, gold, debt, and US equity have varying degrees of correlation. The data offers a useful way for investors to understand why different asset classes can play different roles in a portfolio.

Correlation shows how two assets have historically moved in relation to each other. It ranges from +1 to -1. A positive correlation means they generally mo...