Gold climbs to two year peak following Brexit

Gold climbed on Monday, trading near a more than two-year peak reached in the previous session, as investors sought refuge in the safe-haven amid economic and political uncertainty after Britain voted to exit the European Union.

Bullion surged 4.8 per cent on Friday, its biggest single-day gain since January 2009, as the British exit, or Brexit, forced a selloff in risky assets from industrial commodities to stocks and sterling.

The pound and Asian stocks continued to reel on Monday. Prime Minister David Cameron said he would step down after the vote that dealt the biggest blow since World War Two to the European project of forging greater unity.

British Finance Minister George Osborne, who had warned during the campaign that a Brexit would cause financial market volatility, scheduled a statement for 6 am on Monday to provide reassurance about "financial and economic stability".

Spot gold rose as much as 1.5 percent to $1,335.30 an ounce and was trading at $1,325.80 by 2.50 am, up 0.8 per cent.

The metal rallied as much as 8 percent on Friday to peak at $1,358.20, the highest since March 2014. US gold for August delivery was up 0.6 per cent at $1,330.80 an ounce.

"In the next week or two, we think gold could push towards $1,400," said ANZ commodity strategist Daniel Hynes, adding that a weak U.S. dollar and a dovish Federal Reserve would also support bullion.

The referendum verdict likely means the Fed’s ambitions for two rate rises this year have been placed on hold, analysts and experts say.

Goldman Sachs has raised its gold price forecasts saying Britain’s vote to leave the European Union suggested a more sustainable impact on the trajectory of US interest rates.

According to Macquarie Research: “ Gold price will go higher in the third quarter as the full ramifications of Brexit begin to be felt but expect it to fall back in fourth quarter after the US election and as the Fed gets ready to hike again.”

It increased its third-quarter forecast to $1,350. Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust GLD, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, jumped 2 per cent to 934.31 tonnes on Friday, the highest since July 2013.

Spot silver slipped 0.2 per cent to $17.65 per ounce, after hitting its highest since January 2015 on Friday.

Platinum rose 0.9 to $989.21 an ounce and palladium was up 0.5 per cent at $550.

Reuters