South Africa police standoff with illegal gold miners escalates
The police sealed off access to the Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein several weeks ago to deny the miners access to food and other essentials.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said investors should diversify their long-term bond holdings with gold, citing “fear-driven demand” for the precious metal.
“Gold cannot fully replace government bonds in a portfolio, but the case to reallocate a portion of normal bond exposure to gold is as strong as ever,”
Goldman analysts including Sabine Schels said in a note Friday. “We still see upside in gold as late cycle concerns and heightened political uncertainty will likely support investment demand” for bullion as a defensive asset.
The precious metal climbed to a six-year high in September as the Federal Reserve cut borrowing costs and the total pile of debt yielding less than zero climbed to a record $17 trillion, boosting the appeal of non-interest bearing gold.
Hedge funds and other large speculators boosted their bullish bets on the precious metal by 8.9% in the week ended Dec. 3, government data showed Friday. That’s the biggest gain since late September.
Gold has fallen more than 6% from the peak to close at $1,460.17 in the spot market Friday.
While Goldman said the correction on bullion prices has further room to run, the bank is still sticking to its forecast prices will climb to $1,600 over the next year.
(By Yvonne Yue Li, with assistance from Marvin G. Perez)
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