Gold
prices rose during trading on Wednesday to record the highest level in 8 years,
surpassing the psychological level of $1,800 an ounce, in light of the high
demand for safe havens in the financial markets due to fears of high cases of
infections with the Corona virus, and anticipation of imposing more stimulus by
countries to face the great economic decline.
The
intraday gold prices witnessed a rise for a third consecutive session,
recording the highest level since November 2011 at $ 1,803.90 an ounce, and
trading was opened today at the level of $ 1795.23 an ounce.
Coronavirus
outbreak in the United States passed a dark new milestone exceeding 3 million
confirmed cases on Tuesday, as more states reported record numbers of new
infections, and Florida faces an imminent ICU shortage.
On
the other hand, three Fed officials had expressed concern that an escalating
infection threatens to cut consumer spending and job gains as some stimulus
programs are about to end.
In
Australia, the closure was re-imposed in Melbourne, Australia's second largest
city, as officials seek to contain the outbreak of the Corona virus, prompting
the S&P/ ASX200 index to record its worst daily performance in a week, down
more than 1.5%.
All
these factors have served to keep investors going to gold as a safe haven, in
light of the unstable conditions in the financial markets. The SPDR Gold Trust
Fund, which is the largest financially traded fund in gold in the world, stated
that its gold holdings increased by 0.66% to $1199.36 tons on Tuesday.
Gold's
rise today comes despite the recovery of the dollar index, which measures the
performance of the federal currency against a basket of six major currencies,
recording a rise for the second day in a row to 97.00.
On the other hand,
stock indices in the Asian region and Europe decreased after a similar decline
in US stocks yesterday, which increased the demand for gold, especially with
the increase in the number of infections, and expectations of the negative
impact on the performance of the global economy.