Gold rises for second day as investors seek havens after Brexit

SINGAPORE – Gold rose a second day as financial markets continued a selloff following the UK’s vote to exit the European Union, with inflows into bullion-backed funds surging the most by value since 2012.

Bullion for immediate delivery advanced as much as 1.5% to $1 335.55 an ounce before trading at $1 326.50 at 2:27 p.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal was propelled as high as $1 358.54 on Friday to a level not seen since March 2014, and the 8.1% gain was the biggest intraday jump since 2008.

Gold is up 25% this year as demand for haven assets surges after the fallout from the Brexit vote caused the pound to sink to the weakest level in more than three decades and global stocks tumbled. Prices could reach as high as $1 424 an ounce by the end of the year, according to the median of 12 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of analysts and traders from New York to London conducted on Friday. That would be the highest since August 2013.

“Gold is still supported by safe haven buying,” Madhavi Mehta, an analyst at Mumbai-based Kotak Commodity Services Ltd., said by e-mail. “The event is done and market reaction has subsided, however there are still many questions left unanswered. In this kind of uncertain economic atmosphere, safe haven assets like gold and yen may remain supported.”

FTSE 100 Index retreated, weighed down by the prospect of months of uncertainty amid turmoil within Britain’s two major political parties as Prime Minister David Cameron resigned and Scotland agitates anew for independence.

Uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the flight-to-safety sentiment are likely to be more persistent than the initial reaction to the referendum, said Goldman Sachs Group Inc., upgrading its outlook on gold over the year. The bank raised its three-month price target to $1 300 from $1 200, its six-month target was increased to $1 280 from $1 180 and the 12-month target was boosted to $1 250 from $1 150.

“The ultimate trajectory will depend on the intensity and duration of the uncertainty shock created by the leave outcome and any potential revisions to the US growth outlook, both of which remain highly fluid in the current context,” Goldman Sachs analysts including Jeffrey Currie and Max Layton, wrote in the report.

Volumes of gold futures on the Comex in New York were  above average on Monday, with 73% more contracts traded than the 100-day average for the time of day.

Holdings in exchange-traded funds backed by gold rose 17.5 metric tons to 1 922.1 tons as of Friday, the highest level since October 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The $4.3 billion surge in assets was the most in a single day since 2012.