Gold hits $1,427/oz... may rise to $1,750

Christmas came early for gold speculators as the global price of gold made a new lifetime high of $1,426.4 per ounce today, beating its previous high of $1,424.10/oz made in November by more than $2/oz.

The spike, after almost a month of a retraction in the gold price and then a gradual climb, came after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) announced it would print more money and the American government extended the soon-to-expire Bush-era tax sops for another two years.

The price of 24-carat gold in Dubai hovered at Dh170.50 per gram this morning, up from Dh169.75 last evening, while 22-carat gold rose from Dh159.25 per gram yesterday to Dh160 today.

The yellow metal attracts strong interest as an investment haven, with speculators and savvy traders making brisk purchases on the back of surging global valuations.

Another significant factor for the price rise in gold has been the emergence of China as one of the largest consumers of gold. Gold imports into the world’s new powerhouse China soared fivefold this year, turning the country, already the largest bullion miner, into a major overseas buyer for the first time in recent memory.

The surge, which comes as Chinese investors look for insurance against rising inflation and currency appreciation, puts Beijing on track to overtake India as the world’s largest consumer of gold and a significant force in global gold prices.

Silver also jumped to a new milestone of $30.23/oz, a fresh 30-year high for the metal, driven by strong global movements and highly speculative positioning by stockists.

Precious metals have rallied to record levels due to dollar weakness triggered by quantitative easing measures announced by the Fed to boost the American economy.

Gold prices have rallied more than 34 per cent since early February this year, when they made a year-to-date low of $1,062.40/oz.

Global institutional analysts including Goldman Sachs have revised upward their targets for gold price, with the advisor telling its clients yesterday that it believes low US interest rates will continue to underpin the rally in commodities like gold.

The firm expects gold futures to climb to $1,690/oz by the end of 2011 and continue to move higher. However, the firm believes prices will likely peak at $1,750/oz in 2012, as the US recovery will see interest rates move higher.

In inflation-adjusted terms, gold is still far from its January 1980 record of $875/oz. Gold would have to trade around $2,300/oz to make up for three decades of inflation.

Experts maintain that gold and silver remain in a bull market, and with the current economic climate favouring safe haven investments, they would continue to rise as demand picks up further.

In spite of the fact that the talk of a gold price bubble have escalated ever since the metal crossed $1,300/oz, the current level of bullish sentiment suggests that there is still some steam left before gold prices stop their ascend.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.