Gold disappoints at year-start. Can there be a repeat of 2010 growth?

Gold is currently almost 7% below the peak reached in late December, and the broad variations registered at the beginning of this year have certainly caused a headache to investors lured by the precious metal’s spectacular increases of the passed years.

A gram of gold at the end of last week was worth 137 RON at the NBR exchange, against the 147 RON all-time high reached in late December. However, the past week has seen gold prices rally from the 131 RON/gram registered in the first week of February.

The steep decline of the start of the year contrasts with the 40% leap gold prices took in 2010, after having climbed by over 30% in 2009.

“Gold prices revolved around 1,360 dollars per ounce, being influenced on the one hand by uncertainty about Egypt, which supports the precious metal’s price, and on the other hand by the strengthening of the US dollar, by the positive values of economic indicators and the low buying interest, hurting it,” Piraeus Bank analysts noted at the end of last week.

While many analysts see in the skyrocketing gold prices a “speculative bubble”, there are also voices pointing to potential for future increases.