GOLD BULLION prices rallied again from near 2-month lows against the US Dollar Wednesday morning, creeping 0.2% higher to $1287 per ounce as world stock markets extended their new record highs.

Now valued above $66 trillion, global equities have gained 3.5% so far this month, according to Bloomberg data.

Gold bullion in Euro terms has risen 1.8% as the single currency has dropped, holding near last week's highs of €976 per ounce on Wednesday.

"It's pretty straightforward," Bloomberg quotes one German bank analyst.

"More and more investors are expecting something big to be announced [by the European Central Bank] at the beginning of September."

"Whichever tool they choose," agrees Marcus Grubb, investment director at market-development organization the World Gold Council, "whether it's [lower] interest rates or even quantitative easing...if you look at the latest [gold ETF trust fund] numbers globally in July and August, we've had net new creates.

"I think those two things are related."

Gold bullion held to back shares in the world's largest gold ETF – the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEArca:GLD) – slipped for a second day Tuesday, shedding another 1.5 tonnes to reach 795.6 tonnes, a five-year low when first hit in January.

With the European Central Bank set to meet and decide policy next week, rising bond prices today pushed yields on Eurozone bonds from Austria to Ireland and Italy down to new modern-era lows, after a drop was reported in both Italian and German consumer confidence.

Ten-year German Bund yields fell to fresh record lows beneath 1.0% per annum, with Berlin's debt offering negative yields to new buyers of all maturities up to 3 years. 

German import prices fell last month at the fastest pace since March, new data said Wednesday, dropping 1.7% from July 2013.

US data in contrast continue to signal stronger growth, with Tuesday's Durable Goods report giving the best print on record as consumer confidence hit a 7-year high.

"One has to say though that gold's resilience is fairly impressive at the moment," says David Govett at brokers Marex Spectron in London.

"The numerous sources of geopolitical crisis," says Wednesday's note from commodities analysts at Germany's Commerzbank, "are evidently preventing the gold price from slumping."

Over in China on Wednesday, Shanghai goldpremiums slipped but held positive near $2.50 per ounce above London quotes on solid trading volume.

"There's been some scattered bargain hunting by physical buyers," says Swiss refiner and finance group MKS trader Bernard Sin in Geneva.