Gold prices set for $1,000 in 2008

Gold prices could hit 1,000 dollars an ounce in 2008 after this week's record-breaking run that was fuelled by fierce investment demand, precious metals consultancy GFMS said Thursday.
"Investor appetite for gold at the moment seems undimmed and this should push gold higher over the year," GFMS chairman Philip Klapwijk said as the independent research group published its annual Gold Survey.
"Predicting the top is never easy but we always thought the 900-dollar barrier could easily fall quite soon and then we have to start viewing 1,000 dollars as a clear possibility for later this year."
Gold prices jumped to a record high 914.30 dollars earlier this week on the back of factors that included the struggling dollar and geopolitical concerns in Iran and Pakistan.
That upwards trend is set to continue, according to GFMS.
"GFMS expect the surge in investment to be driven by those factors that fuelled the boom witnessed in the final four months of 2007," the consultancy said.
Those factors included "a weak dollar, record oil prices and their inflationary consequences, the US sub-prime (home loan) crisis and its threat to (economic) growth in the United States and perhaps elsewhere, and lastly geopolitical tensions."