Current investment thoughts

I've been sat on the sidelines for a few weeks now looking for investment opportunities that either look attractive from a value perspective, or offer solid reliable returns. Here's a few of my current thoughts:

Precious metals have been declining, primarily on improved confidence in the US. I'm holding a modest amount of paper gold at the moment which is around 4% below my average cost price.  Whilst it is quite tempting to buy into the falling market to average down my entry price, i'm resisting the temptation.  This is partly to avoid concentration, and partly due to its lack of yield.  However, if metals continue to fall i might diversify into silver or another alternative, albeit probably in small quantities.

I've mentioned before that my investment portfolio is lacking exposure to US equities (apart from my pension funds which are globally diversified).  With the S&P reaching 5 year highs and US equities yielding lower than the UK & Europe it doesn't feel like the best time to be adding this to my portfolio.  However, i must say i'm slightly tempted by Apple, which has fallen from around $700 to well under $500.  Regardless of all the media hype it attracts, with a PE of around 10, a dividend yield of around 2.3% and a lot of cash on its balance sheet, it is starting to look reasonably valued.

Bonds are still not appealing to me.  Some yields have shown signs of improvement, but i would be concerned about capital depreciation in bond funds / ETFs.

Property is still attractive (although not in HK!).  Whilst i don't think a new investment in this field is imminent, the likelihood may grow later in the year if i'm struggling to find alternative places to park my cash.