The credit crunch could still result in gold prices reaching new highs in the near future, according to analysts.

Speaking to Reuters, John Hathaway, senior managing director of Tocqueville Asset Management, remarked that the crisis could yet bring events that will lead investors to seek out the safety of gold investment, despite comments from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke indicating that rate rises may take place this year.

"We might have aftershocks - or maybe another major 8.0 Richter scale kind of event lies ahead - and that's the sort of thing that tends to make people nervous," Mr Hathaway remarked.

Michael Lewis, global head of commodities at Deutsche Bank, pointed to rising oil prices and suggested that the case for rising gold prices could also be backed up in that way.

"If [high] oil slows the economy to the point where we are in a low interest rate environment for the dollar, that could be good for gold," he commented.

This scenario may arrive sooner than expected following forecasts of a drop in non-OPEC oil output from two major bodies in recent times - potentially paving the way for higher gold bullion prices.

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