Gold to reach $1 700
The gold bulls are back, predicting a price of $1 700 an ounce and higher in early 2020.
This month gold rallied to its highest level in six years, ranging between $1 480/oz and $1 510/oz. Standard Chartered Bank expects gold to remain at these prices for the rest of this year and then move to around $1 570/oz by this time next year.
What’s driving this latest move is a cocktail of factors: the US trade war with China, negative bond yields and rising retail investment in gold-backed assets. The recent rise in the metal price has softened jewellery demand from India and China, but other factors are creating powerful tailwinds that will sustain price momentum into 2020 and beyond. Retail investment in gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is picking up, while hedge funds are buying on the dips to $1 480/oz and selling on the mini-rallies to $1 510/oz.
World Gold Council figures show that 374 tons of gold was bought by central banks in the first half of this year, most of it by emerging market countries. Second quarter gold buying by central banks in 2019 was the highest in 19 quarters. — Reuters.