Gold was heading for a strong end to the week as one leading broker suggested new monetary measures could push the price above US$2,000 per ounce. Spot gold climbed to US$1,782.8, touching a new six month high, as analysts at Deutsche Bank suggested gold could average over US$2,000 per ounce over 2013. Grant Sporre, an analyst at the bank said: “The advent of an open-ended QE3 program unleashed by the Fed underpins our positive stance on gold and we expect prices to increase to average over US$2,000/oz for FY’13. We would however point out that the gold price action has reacted more steadily through periods of QE and is unlikely to react as positively during QE3 as it did during QE1. Improving production, a function of increased grades combined with easing inflationary pressures should lead to better margins for all the producers, but especially for Randgold Resources and African Barrick Gold, he said. "Even in a flat gold price environment Randgold should be able to improve margins in the second half of the year." Spot platinum rose slightly to $1,631.99 an ounce on reports that industrial unrest had spread to AngloGold Ashanti as workers on other mines used Lonmin’s 22% wage settlement as a benchmark for their claims. Spot silver rose by US$0.31 to US$34.995.

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