Gold settled above the important level of $ 1,800 an ounce on Thursday, as concerns over the increase in cases of Covid-19 exceeded hopes for a rapid global economic recovery, according to "Reuters".
There was little change in gold in spot transactions at $ 1812.20 an ounce, after rising to its highest level since September 2011 at $ 1817.71 yesterday, Wednesday. US gold futures rose 0.2 percent to $ 1823.20.
Edward Moya, the chief market analyst at Oanda Brokerage, said traders were somewhat overwhelmed after the metal crossed the $ 1,800 level, "but it appears that no one is anxious to abandon these trades yet."
"Gold looks set to rise sharply both in the short and the long term ... It has enough incentives to go to a record level before the end of the year.
The number of coronavirus infections exceeded 12 million today, with over half a million deaths.
In keeping with fears of the economic repercussions of the pandemic, officials at the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) indicated on Wednesday that the recovery in the largest economy in the world may falter.
Meanwhile, the British finance minister has pledged an additional $ 38 billion to avoid an unemployment crisis.
The stimulus tends to support gold, which is seen as a hedge in the face of inflation and currency depreciation. For other precious metals, palladium rose 0.6 percent to $ 1926.67 an ounce, platinum increased 0.1 percent to $ 844.39, and silver gained 0.3 percent to $ 18.83.
