Gold steadied after volatile trading in Asia as turmoil in the oil market, the spread of Covid-19, sinking equities and expectations of easier monetary policy pushed prices above US$1,700 (HK$13,260) an ounce. Investors have already driven holdings in bullion-backed exchange-traded funds to a record as the coronavirus hurts growth outlook. Before yesterday's turmoil, Goldman Sachs Group dubbed the metal the currency of last resort amid the health crisis and predicted that prices could top US$1,800. "We could see a more ugly situation [in markets] before things get better, which of course is good news for gold." Spot gold surged 1.8 percent to US$1,703.39 an ounce, the highest since December 2012, before dropping 1 percent.

Source: The Standard March 09, 2020 19:07 UTC