A record high gold price above $2,000 (1,257.15 pounds) an ounce next year could mark the peak of the precious metal's more than decade long bull run as monetary policy in key economies starts to tighten, the chairman of metals consultancy GFMS said on Wednesday.
"We are expecting still that we are going to see a push above $2,000 in 2013, but it may be that 2013 marks the high water mark for the market," GFMS chairman Philip Klapwijk told Reuters.
"It depends (on whether) we see some resolution in Europe, enough to really take some of the sting out of that issue... an end to stimulus measures in the United States... and the prospect of a normalisation of monetary policy."
The market is expected to rise to new highs by early 2013 after struggling this year against a backdrop of softer demand in key physical markets and slackening investment appetite for bullion, Klapwijk said.
Gold prices are likely drive above $2,000 as concerns over the euro zone debt crisis persist and the idea of more U.S. monetary easing gains support, he said.
But that move could be short lived as those factors dissipate, particularly if the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates becomes a reality the following year, he said.
Klapwijk said gold was expected to trade in a $1,530 (961.72 pounds)-$1,920 an ounce range in 2012, with an average price of $1,731 (1,088.06 pounds) an ounce. The upper end of that price view is just below last year's record $1,920.30 (1,207.05 pounds) an ounce, reached in September.
Copyright @Thomson Reuters 2012
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