Gold Prices slipped into the New Year's shutdown on Wednesday, ending 2008 a little shy of 3% above the close of 2007 for US investors at $865 an ounce.

The last London Gold Fix of the year also pegged the Gold Price in Euros at €614 for French, German and Italian buyers – more than 7% higher from 12 months ago.

UK gold investors saw the price end 2008 at £596 per ounce, fully 40% better from New Year's Eve 2007.

"Thin market volumes limited any major moves on the upside," reports Manqoba Madinane for Standard Bank in Jo'burg, "which kept precious metals under pressure in aftermarket activity [late Tuesday].

"The US Dollar did not weaken as much as we may have anticipated following worse-than-expected consumer confidence data – which also weighed on precious metals. This may have been a result of increased investment flows into US equity markets, shielding the greenback from economic headwinds."

US stock futures pointed higher as the last session of 2008 drew near. European stock market also gained before the lunchtime close. But like the S&P on Wall Street, both London and Frankfurt shares finished the year more than 30% lower overall, suffering their worst ever 12-month loss.

"We're dealing with something that is really historic and we haven't had a playbook," says US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson in an interview with the Financial Times.

Ignoring his own role in creating the credit bubble when he led Goldman Sachs as the investment bank's CEO, "The reason it has been difficult is, first of all, these excesses have been building up for many, many years," Paulson goes on.

"Secondly, we had a hopelessly outdated global architecture and regulatory authorities in the US."

Now those "excesses" are to be compounded by record levels of government debt and all-time lows in global interest rates – apparent solutions which have so far failed to stem capital losses and dividend cuts for equity buyers.

The outlook for Gold in 2009, in contrast, continues to hold strong – if only because everything looks so weak in comparison.