[miningmx.com] – THE price of gold will challenge $1,850 per ounce before the end of the year, said Bloomberg citing data produced by Thomson Reuters GFMS.
The improved outlook for gold, last trading at $1,554/oz, was owing to US stimulus and debt concerns which would drive demand for a protection of wealth, the newswire said.
On the demand side, world investment fell 1.8% to a four-year low in 2012 as bar and coin purchases slowed. However, central bank buying had provided a floor for the metal last year and would sustain buying levels in 2013. Global jewellery demand may weaken this year as recycling increases amid higher prices.
“Even though we’ve had some hawkish noise from some within the Fed, it’s difficult to see a material unwinding of the quantitative easing program until well into 2014,’ Neil Meader, head of precious metals research at GFMS, said in a statement cited by Bloomberg News.
“We can perceive a return to something more like normality for the macro-economic backdrop, and that could easily entail the start of a secular bear market, perhaps in late 2013 or more probably in 2014.’
