'Perfect storm' steers gold to another record high; silver jumps
GLOBAL-PRECIOUS/ (UPDATE 7):PRECIOUS-'Perfect storm' steers gol
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Business News/ News / 'Perfect storm' steers gold to another record high; silver jumps
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Gold scales an all-time peak at $2,449.89 per ounce
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Silver hits highest level since 2012
(Updates prices as of 1723)
By Harshit Verma
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May 20 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose to an all-time high on Monday as a cocktail of factors from U.S. rate cut expectations, China's stimulus measures to geopolitical tensions lifted demand, with the momentum also carrying silver to a more than 11-year peak.
Spot gold rose 0.7% to $2,430.79 per ounce as of 1:23 p.m. ET (1723 GMT) after hitting a record high of $2,449.89 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures gained 0.7% to $2,434.90.
"Inflation is sticky, we may see some whipsaws in the inflation data, but also the burdening debt in the U.S., there is a cause to be diversified away from that too. So it's this perfect storm that's kept the market elevated in gold," said Daniel Pavilonis, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
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Data last week showed that U.S. consumer prices increased less than expected in April, suggesting that inflation resumed its downward trend, boosting expectations for a September interest rate cut.
Lower rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, which also benefits from uncertainty in the market.
RJO's Pavilonis expects gold to propel to near $2,500 in the short term as there's a fear of missing out from gold's rally. "There's a lot of non-traders that are calling up places(brokers)... to buy futures or to take physical delivery."
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Adding to gold's upside was elevated risk aversion as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash, analysts at Kitco Metals wrote in a note.
Meanwhile, some analysts also pointed out gold's surge to China's announcement of "historic" steps to stabilise its crisis-hit property sector. China is a key consumer of gold and other industrial metals.
Spot silver rose 2% to $32.12 after hitting an over 11-year high.
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Platinum dipped 2.5% to $1,053.69 after hitting its highest since May 2023. Palladium rose 2% to $1,029.19.
"Platinum is trading at premium over palladium with rising inflows of exchange traded funds," ANZ said in a note.
(Reporting by Harshit Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Ravi Prakash Kumar)
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