2-Sep-2013
Gold is having a summer revival. The price of gold touched $1,420 an ounce this week, a three-and-a-half month high, as escalating tensions in the Middle East, volatile currency markets and renewed demand for jewelry in China and India pushed prices higher.
Gold has rebounded 15 per cent to $1,396 an ounce since sinking to $1,212, its lowest level in almost three years, on June 27. A gain of 20 percent or more would put the metal back in a bull market.
Gold's resurgence follows a rough ride this year. Gold slumped 4.8 per cent in the first three months of 2013 as the outlook for the economy improved while inflation remained subdued.
For many years prior to that, large investors, like hedge funds, bought the metal as a way to protect their investments against rising prices and a slumping dollar. They feared that the Federal Reserve's stimulus program could cause prices to rise. But inflation remained subdued and that reduced the need to buy gold. Also, signs in January that the dollar was strengthening diminished the appeal of owning gold.
Then in April, the bottom fell out. A proposal that Cyprus sell some of its gold reserves to support its banks rattled traders, prompting concern that Spain, Italy and other weak European economies might also sell and flood the market.
Gold plunged by $140 an ounce, or nine percent, on April 15 as investors unloaded their holdings. That was the biggest one-day decline in more than 30 years.
While the price of gold is still down 17 percent this year, the metal is on the rise.
Source:- indiatoday.intoday.in
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