Gold hits record high of over US$1,160 an ounce
Posted: 23 November 2009 1549 hrs

	Photos  of

HONG KONG - The price of gold soared to a record close of 1,166.00-1,167.00 US dollars an ounce in Hong Kong on Monday as dealers moved into the safe haven commodity due to the weak greenback, analysts said.

It opened at 1,158.00-1,159.00 US dollars.

The precious metal was up from Friday's close of 1,145.00-1,146.00 dollars as stocks on Wall Street suffered a third straight loss and as the US unit continues to struggle due to super-low interest rates.

"We closed on the day's high Friday, so that prompted more buying this morning," Anderson Cheung, director of precious metals at Mitsui Bussan in Hong Kong, told Dow Jones Newswires.

"People are talking about buying gold long-term exposure, as a safe haven," Cheung said.

The price of gold has soared 11.5 percent since India's central bank at the start of November bought 200 tonnes from the International Monetary Fund.

"We might see some early profit taking on the London opening, but a real bull trend has formed. It's very easy to push the price higher right now. The sentiment in the gold market really changed since the IMF gold sale to India's central bank," said Wallace Ng, chief gold dealer at Fortis in Hong Kong.

- AFP/ir