Gold continues to notch new records, hitting US$3,038 ($4,776) an ounce on Tuesday (18 March) and market watchers believe there is still more to come.
Demand for safehaven assets climbed as Hamas launched a fresh attack on Gaza in the Middle East.
ANZ Pacific Economist Kishti Sen says the shattering of the two-month ceasefire heralds a return to uncertainty around peace in the region.
“Traders were also digesting US economic data, which showed consumer apprehension about the impact of Trump’s tariffs,” he says.
“Silver prices rallied and are now up over 17% this year, aided by gold’s unrelenting rally.”
Saxo Head of Commodity Strategy Ole Hansen said last week after gold finally punched through the US$3,000 an ounce mark that a period of profit-taking may follow, triggering a pullback to last month’s peak of US$2,956 or even US$2,930.
“However, the broader outlook remains bullish unless global risks ease significantly, thereby hurting momentum forcing speculators to reduce speculative futures positions,” he says.
“In addition to safe-haven demand and central bank purchases, fiscal concerns should continue to support gold.”
UBS has raised its gold price target to US$3,200 on the continued strong demand. The Swiss investment bank expects it could get to this level possibly as early as June.
Macquarie predicts the gold price will reach US$3,500 an ounce in the second quarter of this year, while Goldman Sachs expects the precious metal to hit US$3,100 an ounce in 2025.
The S&P/ASX 200 has dropped 47.8 points, or 0.61%, to 7,812.6 points this morning. The index is up 0.34% over the past five days but is off 4.19% year to date.
Nine sectors headed down in early trade. Utilities dipped 0.34%, industrials edged back 0.18% and energy moved marginally lower by 0.03%. Materials, however, remained in the green with a 0.13% shift higher.
The uranium miners enjoyed some early gains as Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) advanced 2.99% to $1.04 and Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) climbed 2.07% to $2.46.
Diversified miner Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), meanwhile, slid 10.38% to $22.28 after revealing a temporary halt to the haulage on the Onslow Iron haul road following a truck rollover.
MinRes reported to WorkSafe WA that the rear two trailers of a road train had tipped onto their side on the haul road on 17 March 2025.
The prime mover and first trailer remained upright, and the operator was not injured. The cause of the incident is under internal investigation.
Haulage is continuing via contractor vehicles using alternative routes, and MinRes transhippers will continue to load ocean-going vessels during this period.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation.
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: ASX & Unsplash
