Gold tops $4,000 for first time as traders pile into safe haven

HONG KONG: Gold prices broke $4,000 for the first time on Wednesday as investors piled into the safe haven over expectations for US interest rate cuts and worries over the US government shutdown.

The rally in the precious metal also came after concerns that a tech-fuelled rally that has sent some equity markets to record highs may have gone too far, fanning talk of an asset bubble.

Traders have been piling into gold all year, pushing it up more than 50% since the turn of the year, on the back of a range of issues including global economic uncertainty, Donald Trump's trade war and geopolitical crises.

Its allure was increased further this week by political turmoil in France, where the country's prime minister resigned and President Emmanuel Macron's former premier urged him to resign and call early elections.

Gold — long considered a go-to in times of uncertainty — climbed to a high of $4,037.10 on Wednesday, even as the dollar has pushed up against most of its peers in recent days. Silver was also within a few dollars of its own record high.

The closure of parts of the US government is adding to the sense of unease among investors, with key economic data, including on jobs, being postponed and muddying the waters for the Federal Reserve as it tries to decide on its rate plans.

"The rapid rise in gold prices has been supported by rising inflows into (exchange-traded funds) and central bank buying, including solid demand from China, as gold benefits from political, economic, and inflation uncertainty," wrote Taylor Nugent at National Australia Bank.

And Pepperstone's Chris Weston said "funds and global reserve managers want a hedge — against fiscal recklessness, currency debasement, and unpredictable government policy — and gold sits squarely at the heart of that movement".

While gold traders were busy pushing the metal ever higher, equity markets were more subdued in Asia as questions were asked about the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been invested in artificial intelligence.

The AI boom has seen some indexes and companies hit record highs, with chip titan Nvidia topping a $4 trillion valuation.

But a report that software firm Oracle's cloud computing profit margin was much lower than expected sent shivers through trading floors, with all three main indexes on Wall Street falling into the red.

"In a market priced for perfection, any delay in cash flow — even a temporary one — feels like the bartender calling 'last call'," wrote Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.

"Traders didn't wait for clarification; they simply started easing out of their positions. The Oracle story didn't crash the party, but it definitely sobered it."

Tech firms, which have enjoyed strong buying this year and in recent months, led selling in Asia, with Alibaba and JD.com down in Hong Kong, TSMC dropping in Taipei and Renesas sharply lower in Tokyo.

Hong Kong and Taipei were among the biggest losers, while Sydney, Mumbai and Singapore also fell.

Tokyo dropped after rallying this week on optimism that the election of business-friendly conservative Sanae Takaichi as the ruling party's leader will see more stimulus measures and a fresh push for monetary easing.

Wellington, Manila, Bangkok and Jakarta edged up with London, Paris and Frankfurt.

By RSS/AFP