Major financial institutions have been raising their gold price forecasts as the precious metal’s price benefits from growing trade war fears and central banks’ accumulations.
This week, strategists at both Citi and UBS issued increased gold price forecasts, anticipating the precious metal’s bull run will continue as markets are pressured by geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties.
Gold-backed cryptocurrencies have been benefiting from this trend, with tokens like PAXG and XAUT seeing performance in line with that of the precious metal. These tokens, backed by physical gold stored in vaults, have been outperforming the wider cryptocurrency market amid the uncertainty.
Citi has adjusted its short-term gold price target to $3,000 per ounce and increased its average forecast for the year to $2,900, up from $2,800, Investing.com reports. Behind its hike were not only the factors cited above but also global growth concerns expected to drive demand for the precious metal.
Meanwhile, UBS hiked its 12-month gold price target to $3,000 per ounce, up from $2,850. The precious metal has already breached the latter, currently trading at $2,860 after rising about 9% year-to-date.
UBS strategists led by Mark Haefele said in a note that gold’s “enduring appeal as a store of value and hedge against uncertainty has again proven itself.” Meanwhile, Citi’s note points to “trade wars and geopolitical tensions reinforcing the reserve diversification/de-dollarization trend and supporting emerging market (EM) official sector gold demand.”
Read more: Gold-Backed Cryptocurrencies Surge as Precious Metal Hits Record Amid Trade War Worry