In recent years, uncertainty in financial markets has stimulated the need to explore alternative avenues for safeguarding wealth and managing risk. In this strand of research, gold has been particularly important due to its potential to mitigate risk and preserve wealth. This study investigates gold behaviour against equities and currencies in three regions across Asia. We follow Engle’s (2002) dynamic conditional correlation-multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (DCC-MGARCH) model to test the gold link with equity and currency markets. We use a weekly series of exchange rate (national currency/the US dollar), equity and gold prices in national currency over the weekly period, 1995–2013. The sample consists of 12 countries covering East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Findings suggest that gold is just a diversifier against stocks in the Asian economies except in Korea, Singapore and Thailand. However, gold acts as a hedge and safe haven against Asian currencies—except China and Hong Kong—thus still preserving its monetary role.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to global economic policy uncertainty, which has increased the need to investigate ways to mitigate the uncertainty. This study aims to examine the potential of cryptocurrencies as a hedge and safe haven avenue against economic policy uncertainty.Design/methodology/approach: This study investigates the behavior of the five leading cryptocurrencies in relation to country-level and group-level economic policy uncertainty indices, as measured by the text-based method developed by Baker et al. (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2016, 131, 1593–1636). The research covers a broad range of emerging and developed economies from July 2013 to September 2020. The study employs the approach of Narayan et al. (Economic Modelling, 2016, 53, 388–397) to examine the hedging and safe-haven properties of cryptocurrencies.Findings: This study finds that the top cryptocurrencies play a hedging role against economic policy uncertainty, with some exceptions. Additionally, there is evidence to support the idea that cryptocurrencies can serve as a safe haven during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, investors may benefit from using cryptocurrencies as a risk-management avenue during times of uncertainty.Originality/value: This research contributes to the existing literature by testing the cryptocurrencies' hedging and safe haven properties in a new way, by analyzing their lead and lag behaviors using a recent and innovative approach. Additionally, it examines a wide range of emerging and advanced markets, providing insight into the potential of using cryptocurrencies as a risk mitigation avenue.