GOLD hit a new high this year above 1180/oz in Europe on Friday, fuelled by euro strength and investors continuing to embrace the metal’s safe-haven properties on unease over euro-zone sovereign debt levels. Spot gold reached a peak of 1180,10/oz and was bid at 1174,65/oz by midafternoon from 1166,10. It also hit a record peak in Swiss francs at Sf1281,19/oz. The precious metal had rallied more than 5% last month , its biggest one-month rise since November last year , on credit ratings downgrades of Greece, Spain and Portugal.
“Gold has had quite a big move this month,” Nick Bullman of Bullman Investment said. “The buying has been based on default issues in Europe and other debasement of currencies. I would agree that 1200 is back on the table,” he said. “People have been buying it very, very consistently.”
