Gold reached a new record overnight (AEDT) and is very close to punching through the US$3,000 ($4,773) an ounce mark, with market watchers indicating the run is far from over.
The safehaven metal reached an intra-day high of US$2,990 on Thursday (14 March) as US President Donald Trump promised more tariffs, this time on alcohol, in response to retaliatory tariffs being announced by other countries.
Macquarie analysts see very little downside risk to gold this year, predicting it will hit a new high of US$3,500 by the third quarter.
Trojan Gold CEO Charles J Elbourne supports this view, telling Mining.com.au in a recent interview gold will push higher on higher forecasts of central bank buying.
“When this thing turns and it will – I’m watching gold right now and it’s going to break through that US$3,000 number. I never thought that I could ever say that I see gold going to US$3,500, but I think maybe it can,” he says.
ANZ says gold has also been helped along by a slowing in US inflation which is supporting the case for further rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
“Swap traders are now fully pricing in another 25 basis point cut in June, with about 70 basis points of easing seen for all of 2025,” Rates Strategist Jack Chambers says.
While the gold price is strong, the ASX is less so, with the S&P/ASX 200 moving up just 20.5 points, or 0.26%, to 7,769.6 as of 10.30am AEDT.
The index has lost 2.25% over the past five days and is 0.73% lower over the past year.
More sectors were lower despite the broader index rising. Materials is the best performing sector, gaining 0.36% in early trade and rebounding from its recent decline. The sector is off 0.76% for the past five days.
Utilities advanced 0.27% and industrials edged up 0.06% while energy dipped 0.06%.
The gold miners were again the strongest performers, led by Newmont (ASX:NEM) with a 5.02% gain to $72.95. Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) climbed 4.9% to $3.53, Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) rose 4.55% to $2.76 and Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) advanced 3.95% to $2.23.
Westgold Managing Director Wayne Bramwell yesterday bought a further 10,000 shares indirectly on-market at $2.48 per share. He now holds a direct interest of 40,000 shares and an indirect interest of 121,218 shares.
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 & iStock
