The rally in the gold price regained momentum on Monday as investors continue to pile into hard assets amid a flood of easy money on financial markets in the developed world and expectations of a prolonged period of ultra-low interest rates and currency debasement.
Gold for delivery in August, the most active contract on the Comex market in New York with 17m ounces traded by early afternoon, touched a high of $1,823.40 an ounce, just short of a near 9-year high.
Gold is now up 19.7%, or $300 an ounce so far this year. The last time gold traded above $1,800 an ounce was September 2011, but it ended that year at $1,565 an ounce.
Bloomberg reports according to Citigroup’s third-quarter commodities outlook, the price of gold “is expected climb to an all-time high in the next six-to-nine months, and there’s a 30% probability it’ll top $2,000 an ounce in the next three-to-five months.”
“Nominal gold prices have already posted fresh records in every other G-10 and major emerging market currency this year,” the Citigroup analysts said.
“It is only a matter of time for fresh” highs in US dollars, they said.