The price of gold smashed above $5,000 an ounce on Monday, further lifting shares in precious metals miners around the world.
Spot gold surged 1.9% above $5,000 per Troy ounce on Sunday, as Asia Pacific trading opened, rising above $5,090 per ounce in early European trading.
Gold is up 17.4% in the month, and 85.6% since this point last year.
Silver was not to be left out, after treading water last week, up 6% on the day to $109.19 per oz, with a month's gain of 49% and over 257% over a year.
Among London's bigger names, FTSE 250-listed Hochschild Mining PLC (LSE:HOC, OTCQX:HCHDF) and Pan African Resources PLC (AIM:PAF, OTCQX:PAFRY, JSE:PAN) were up 6.7% and 4.3% respectively, with blue-chips Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) and Endeavour Mining PLC (LSE:EDV, TSX:EDV, OTCQX:EDVMF) rising 3% and 2.5%.
Market strategist Michael Brown at Pepperstone said it was the first time that spot gold prices had traded north of $5,000/oz, with bullion continuing its ascent "at breakneck pace".
"Numerous factors continue to drive the yellow metal higher, the majority of which have now been in place for some time."
He said the most significant structural factor underpinning gold remains reserve demand, primarily from emerging market central banks, seeking to diversify holdings out of the US dollar and US treasuries.
"This, to be clear, is nothing new, with the People's Bank of China having now bought gold for 14 months in a row, and this demand from reserve allocators having actually kicked-up a gear in the middle of 2022, upon the seizure of Russia’s FX reserves, which in turn was the trigger for gold’s traditional correlation with real/nominal yields to break down."
Retail demand has also been providing a tailwind, he added, with gold ETF holdings having risen north of 100 million oz, having climbed almost nonstop since the start of last year, but still some considerable way off peaks seen in 2022 and 2020.
The recent significant bout of US dollar weakness is "providing a further tailwind", said Brown. "Dollar softness is, by and large, a reflection of the ‘sell America’ trade which has gathered steam in the FX space of late, and in turn reflects the dim view that participants, on balance, are continuing to take of President Trump’s unorthodox ‘escalate to de-escalate’ negotiating strategy, and constant on-again, off-again tariff threats.
"Increased geopolitical risk, chiefly centring around developments in the Middle East, are also helping to further fuel haven demand for gold, and metals more broadly."