Gold Investing "Likely to Return", Push to $2000 Says Commerzbank

INTEREST in gold investing may be waning right now, says the head of commodity analysis at Germany's Commerzbank, but it is "likely" to return later in 2013 and push prices up towards new records at $2000 per ounce.

Speaking overnight Friday to Bloomberg Asia, "I'm not saying [$2000] is going to be reached in the near future," said Eugen Weinberg, "and there are more compelling places to put money at the moment."

Commerzbank's global head of commodities research says that easing tensions in the Eurozone, plus the fact that inflation has yet to take off, also weigh against gold investing right now.

"But I think that during the second half of the year, the investment interest is likely to come back."

Weinberg also points to "continued buying" by central banks.

Summing up 2013 for gold investment as "Going in like a bear, coming out like a bull," he sees prices hitting $2,000 sometime in the next 12 months.

Weinberg's view contrasts with the latest gold price forecast from ANZ Bank – a major player in Asia's physical bullion market – which today cut its 2013 average from above $1800 per ounce to $1690.

"We expect gold prices to face further headwinds from slowing investment demand for gold in the West," said ANZ's new forecast, "and a move towards more growth-oriented assets."