“Yet again gold reinforces its diversification appeal with the new high reached today,” Ruth Crowell, LMBA chief executive, said in a statement.
In the spot market, gold prices were anchored near a two-month peak on Monday, following last week’s tepid US economic data, which solidified bets for the Federal Reserve’s first interest rate cut of the year in June. Gold scaled a record peak of $2,135.40 in early December.
The precious metal has so far outperformed initial expectations this year. Reuters’ January poll of analysts expected gold to average $2,053.50 per ounce in 2024. The LBMA’s 2024 forecast survey saw it at $2,059.
“Given gold moved into overbought territory on this rally, a correction lower is possible. A reversion to the previous upward trend would return gold to around $2,050 per ounce,” analysts at Heraeus said in a note.
(By Polina Devitt; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Jonathan Oatis)