Gold is poised to crack the $US1,900 an ounce level this week for the first time in almost 9 years.
That was after Comex futures posted another record settlement on Friday, along with the strongest weekly performance since early April.
Some analysts are calling for the $US2,000 level to be reached in the next few weeks if the march of COVID-19 infections continues in the US and the economy slows.
Comex August gold futures rose $US7.50, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,897.50 an ounce on Friday, after trading as high as $US1,904.60.
Gold was trading at just over $US1,900 an ounce in after-hours dealing early Saturday morning, Sydney time.
For the week, prices rose 4.8%, the biggest weekly percentage climb since the week ended April 9.
The contract topped the most-active contract settlement record of $US1,891.90 from August 22, 2011
The record most-active intraday level still stands at $US1,923.70 an ounce from September 6, 2011.
The front-month July gold contract, which trades on significantly lower volume also touched a record for a second session in a row. It settled at $US1,897.30 Friday, up $US8.20, or 0.4%, for the session. That’s a record for the front-month contracts, based on data going back to 1975, according to Marketwtach.com.
Gold prices are now up by around 50% in the past two years, when the price bottomed under $US1,200 an ounce. Gold is also up around $400 an ounce from March’s COVID-19 crash.
Comex silver prices, meanwhile, also recently rallied to their highest settlement since 2013, with the September silver contract on Wednesday settling at $US23.144 an ounce.
It ended Friday at $US22.85 an ounce, up 15.6% for the week. It is also cheaper than gold, so attracting more smaller speculators.
In other metals action, September copper dipped 1.6% to $US2.8925 a pound, ending around 0.4% lower for the week.
Meanwhile, oil had another rangebound week.
In New York, West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose 22 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $US41.29 a barrel, after falling 2% on Thursday.
September Brent crude inched up by 3 cents, or 0.07%, to $US43.34 a barrel in Europe, following a Thursday’s 2.2% slide.
For the week, front-month WTI futures saw a 1.3% weekly gain while Brent was up half a percent.
Meanwhile, data from Baker Hughes showed the first rise in weekly active oil rig numbers in four months.
It wasn’t a big rise – just a rise of 1 to 181. But that figure is no longer yet another record low for active oil rig numbers.
