Gold strikes record high above $1,700
HONG KONG: The price of gold struck a record high above $1,700 an ounce on Monday with dealers flocking to the safe haven metal as Asian stocks tumbled following Standard & Poor's downgrade of US debt.
The price of gold reached $1,704.30 an ounce in Hong Kong trade.
"People are just taking their money out [of other markets], especially from the dollar and euro and investing in gold and the Japanese yen," a Tokyo-based trader told Dow Jones Newswires.
Asian markets were sent spinning on Monday after S&P late Friday cut the United States' AAA rating by one notch, citing deep divisions in Washington over its long-term fiscal standing.
The turmoil has led investors to seek out less-risky gold at a time of economic uncertainty.
S&P's downgrade compounded already weak sentiment amid fears that the eurozone debt crisis will spread to other nations, while the United States has posted a series of poor data indicating an economic slowdown.
It has led some analysts to warn of another global financial crisis that could even be worse than that of 2008-09.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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