Gold slipping further as investors turn to bourse

Kuwait  (Dec 1)  The price of gold was still slipping last week as investors' turned their attention to bourses in several western countries, noted the latest report by Sabaek Al-Kuwait Company.
The precious metals report said gold hit its lowest price since June reaching USD 1,227 per ounce influenced by optimism in the global market that lead investors away from the safe-haven metals to seek stocks instead.
After the reaching of a long-awaited compromise between Iran and the group of P5+1 over the Iranian nuclear activity dossier, stock markets in the US and Europe boomed. Meanwhile, oil prices took a hit and lost ground over fears lift of sanctions on the country would mean it would pump additional oil and cause excess in supply.
The report said the sharp decline in gold prices was still surprising, since the Iranian gold trade does not stand to really shake the market as Iranian oil could. The psychological factor seems to be the force behind the change in price rather than change in circumstance, it concluded.
Analysts meanwhile stand divided on forecast for gold prices in the coming days.
As for silver, the report said the decline in price recently was caused by the same factors that pushed gold down. It also indicated that having hit a low of USD 19.97 per ounce, the metal repeatedly approached but failed to rise above the USD 20 per ounce benchmark as a result of profit-taking.
The company said it expects the metal to end the year 2013 near USD 25 per ounce due to increasing industrial demand, as well as brisk activity over the past few months that would probably continue for a while yet.
Other metals did not go through such tug and pull, the report said, and were mainly governed by supply and demand factors. Palladium gained USD 5 per ounce to reach USD 718 per ounce, while platinum lost USD 17 per ounce to reach USD 1,366 per ounce.
The local gold market was reported to have seen a boom throughout last week, with the yellow metal selling for KD 11,450 per kilo. Gold articles were more popular than bullion and items in 18 and in 21 carat gold were particularly popular, as Kuwaiti investors believed prices are most likely to go up before long.