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Gold price hits record-breaking $1500 an ounce

25 April 2011 13:54 (UTC +04:00)

Worries over inflation across the world, the European debt crisis and Standard & Poor’s downgrade of US debt are all thought to be factors behind a surge in demand which pushed the price to $1,500.70 an ounce in Hong Kong.

Jonathan Barratt, an analyst at Commodity Broking Services, described the record-breaking price as "sensational".

He told Reuters: "Everything’s feeding into this - sovereign debt, the weaker dollar, inflation and investment demand. It is unusual to do it in Asian time. It goes to show how much appetite there is in Asia for bullion."

However, Masayo Kondo of Commodity Intelligence said there could be a significant downward swing in the coming weeks.

"In the near term, to the end of April, gold is expected to undergo a correction to as low as $1,400," he explained.

"Speculative positions have been accumulating, so funds are likely to unwind their longs for now as a key milestone of $1,500 is reached."