By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Gold prices rose for a third week in a row, intensifying its target for $1,800 pricing, as investors piled into safe havens amid a new global surge in coronavirus cases.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery settled up $9.70, or 0.5%, at $1,780.30 per ounce on New York’s Comex. On Thursday, the benchmark gold futures contract spiked to $1,796.10, the highest reached on Comex since November 2011.
Spot gold, which tracks real-time trades in bullion, rose $4.32, or 0.2%, to $1,768 by 3:03 PM ET (19:03 GMT). The bullion indicator hit an intraday high of $1,779.45 in the previous session, marking a peak since October 2012.
For the week, Comex gold was up 1.7% after gains of 0.9% and 3.2% in the previous two weeks.
Analysts said the yellow metal appeared well primed to rewrite all-time highs above $1,900 set in November 2011.
“Gold prices seem destined for record-high territory as the latest spike in Covid-19 cases could result in slower economic recovery that will keep the stimulus trade going strong,” said Ed Moya, an analyst at New York-based online trading platform OANDA.
The United States reported more than 41,000 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the second consecutive day with a record total, with health officials saying the true national caseload was probably 10 times the official count. These come as more than 2.4 million Americans have already been infected by the coronavirus, with a death toll breaching 123,000. A new model by the University of Washington also predicts 200,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by Oct. 1.
Globally, India, South Korea and New Zealand have all reported higher incidences of the Covid-19 in recent weeks.
The outlook for a global economic recovery has worsened or at best stayed about the same over the past month, according to a majority of economists in Reuters polls, with the ongoing recession expected to be deeper than predicted in May.