THE world was gripped by gold fever last night as the price hit GBP302 an ounce, a near 25 year high.
Some analysts even predicted the price could go higher.
A precious metals research group said it could rise to as much as GBP484 an ounce as a weakening dollar increased the metal's appeal as an alternative investment to US assets.
Paul Walker, chief executive of the London-based group GFMS, said: "Gold could rise to dollars-850 (GBP484) in the next 18 months as the dollar is likely to come under renewed pressure."
A number of factors have come together to create the boom. As well as the worries that inflation will erode the value of bonds and shares, strong demand from Asian economies for metals has been squeezing supply at a time when producers are finding it difficult to increase output. This time of year also normally sees demand for gold pick up.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article