Gold to peak over $2,000 late 2012/early 2013: GFMS

Metals consultancy Thomson Reuters GFMS said gold is nearing the end of a 10-year run that has lifted prices by more than 600 percent and it expects the metal to peak at a record above $2,000 an ounce between October 2012 and March 2013.

Spot gold has been a top-performing asset since 2001 as portfolio diversification, concerns over sovereign risk and rock-bottom interest rates have helped lift prices from a low near $250 an ounce in 2001 to a peak above $1,920 in September 2011.

Gold is likely to surpass that level in the final quarter of 2012 or the first three months of next year, GFMS said, potentially breaking through the $2,000 an ounce level.

"A combination of factors will ensure that sufficient demand from investors and to a lesser extent official sector institutions comes into the market for it to clear at higher levels," the company said in the second update to its Gold Survey 2011.

"Concern over nearly all currencies' long-term value remains acute, and this includes the US dollar, which to a large extent has found favour simply as the 'least bad' option, especially in light of growing fears over the break-up of the euro zone."

Text & Images: Jan Harvey, Reuters