Gold futures surge to near $1,700 as investors seek safe haven

Gold futures surged as much as $45 in Tokyo trade on Monday to a record $1,697.70 an ounce on demand for an investment haven and bad news from the US and Europe continued to pile up.

The dollar slumped following Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the US long-term credit rating from AAA.

Gold futures for December delivery was trading at $1,687, up $36 or 2,17% at 8:30 am Tokyo local time in electronic trading after reaching the all time high.

Businessweek quotes a London-based trader from UBS AG as saying “Gold will most likely be a sharp recipient of safe- haven flows. Our previous one- month forecast of $1,725 is likely to be easily met in the short term.”‬