It was a well anticipated rise for the gold price following confirmation from the European Central Bank that it is to start quantative easing, and the increase in interest has been reflected at GoldMoney.
Double volume
Dealing Manager at GoldMoney, Kelly-Ann Kearsey said, 'Volumes more than doubled this week, compared to last, registering a 119% increase. It's definitely in favour of the buyers with gold returning to the top slot knocking the recent favourite, silver, into runner-up position - although its still receiving plenty of interest too. The increase in buying came after the Swiss National Bank's decision, last week, to end its cap against the euro. We have also seen more interest this week for our Swiss vault along with the more usual flow into the east and Singapore.'
Platinum struggles
The other phenomenon on the precious metals markets this week has been the gold price rising above its rarer cousin, platinum. 'The lower platinum price in comparison to gold's reflects platinum's industrial use and gold's safe haven status. With economic uncertainties once again rumbling round the world the industrial metals are losing favour although silver's relatively under-priced status of the past few weeks has seen it gain the most in percentage terms this week.' said Kelly-Ann. 'The last time we saw platinum fall below gold was in April of last year. We've also seen a large sell order on palladium this week'.
Where to next?
There is a general feeling that more faith is going back into gold according to Kelly-Ann, 'The yellow metal's rise beyond $1300 has boosted confidence in the metal's direction and the next week will give further impetus with a swathe of figures coming out of the US and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. A clearer indication of where the US economy is heading could give further drive to gold buying as a safe haven and asset protector.'
Week on week price performances
22/01/15 16:00. Gold up 3.1% to $1,299.06, Silver increased 7.0% to $18.25, Platinum gained 2.0% to $1,280.45 but Palladium decreased 0.6% to $766.25.