AJAY VERMA/Reuters
The Federal Reserve's quantitative easing announcement on Thursday has turned most participants in the Kitco News weekly gold survey bullish on the metal's prospects for next week.
In the Kitco News Gold Survey, out of 33 participants, 29 responded this week. Of those 29 participants, 24 see prices up, while one sees prices down, and four are neutral or see prices moving sideways. Market participants include bullion dealers, investment banks, futures traders, money managers and technical-chart analysts.
After the Fed announced it will buy $40-billion (U.S.) in mortgage-backed securities monthly until the labour market improves, most participants see that as supportive for the yellow metal.
"I note with interest that the gold forward rates are increasing. This is significant in that gold spreads are indicating inflation is coming and after QE3, who is to doubt it? So for the next week gold will move higher," said Bob Tebbutt, independent analyst who runs the Canadian website Mr. Commodities.
Others noted that gold broke out of its recent trading range with this week's sharp move higher and they expect momentum will continue to push gold up, with a possibility of testing $1,800 an ounce shortly.
In addition to the Fed stimulus, Sean Lusk, precious metals analyst at Ironbeam, said the rising tensions in the Middle East may keep gold supported in the near term. The news reports of attacks on embassies in North Africa and the Middle East may keep those who might want to sell gold at higher levels from doing so next week, he added.
Participants who are neutral or see weaker prices next week said they expect gold might run into some profit taking given the more than $120-plus rise since late August.