Index Investing: From Theory to Practice · Dr MAI Huu Minh, TRAN Phan Bao Ngoc & HUYNH Nguyen Quoc BuuChapter 29 of 37 · Module 7: Latest index trends and innovations
CHAPTER 29
Commodity Indexes: The New Generation
From the GSCI and BCOM to enhanced roll, risk-premia and energy-transition indexes
Opening question
“Oil rose, copper rose, gold hit records — yet my commodity fund lagged for years. Then in 2026 it suddenly jumped. Am I buying commodities, or something else?”
In this chapter
- The first-generation benchmarks: S&P GSCI, Bloomberg Commodity Index, Rogers and CRB, and why their weights differ so much
- The three sources of return — spot, roll and collateral — and the long contango problem
- Second-generation indexes: optimum-yield, forward-month, dynamic-roll and constant-maturity designs, with a worked roll comparison
- Third-generation indexes: backwardation tilts, momentum and long-short risk premia
- Thematic indexes for battery metals, gold and agriculture
- Carbon and ESG inside commodity indexes
- China, Japan and Vietnam's Mercantile Exchange
- The NXW Gold Plus index as a case, and a checklist for any commodity index
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This chapter is in the full book
Chapter 1 is free to read online. The full text of chapter 29 — with its tables, figures, worked examples and practice lab — is available in the complete edition of Index Investing: From Theory to Practice (Volume 1, NXW Investment Library).
Read Chapter 1 freeGet the full book — [email protected]Sections of this chapter
29.1 Three generations of commodity indexes
29.2 The first-generation benchmarks
29.3 Spot, roll and collateral: the contango problem
29.4 The second generation: enhanced roll and constant maturity
29.5 The third generation: risk premia, carry and momentum
29.6 Thematic indexes: battery metals, gold and agriculture
29.7 Carbon and ESG in commodity indexes
29.8 Asia and Vietnam
29.9 Case: the NXW Gold Plus index
29.10 A checklist for any commodity index