Johannesburg - The demand for gold coins has hit an all time high, the SA Gold Coin Exchange said on Friday.
"The rapidly growing demand for gold coins strongly suggests that the gold bull market is well set to extend itself strongly into the future," said chairman Alan Demby in a statement.
An increasing number of analysts and commentators were predicting strong gold price advances, Demby added.
He said during the course of 2008, the value of the exchange's sales of gold coins, primarily Krugerrands, was a substantial 80 percent higher than in 2007.
"I accept that exchange has grown its market share, but this has played no more than a minor role in our headlong revenue growth, which I am convinced emanates from a belief that gold is the ultimate hedge against the uncertainty generated by the global financial meltdown," Demby said.
In the past few weeks the legendary Warren Buffet had expressed himself strongly in favour of investing in the yellow metal.
Furthermore, Demby said, UBS Investment Research forecasts gold to hit $2 500 an ounce in the next five years as prospects of either deflation or inflation become more extreme.
He added that Citigroup analysts Alan Heap and Alex Tonks had raised their gold forecast to an average $925 an ounce in 2010, from a previous estimate of $900.
