Strong Demand: Gold Prices Could Reach New Record Levels

Gold reached record levels at the end of last week, surpassing three thousand dollars per ounce. The reason for this is very clear; investors are fearful of the threat of a global trade war and view gold as a safe haven.

Gold is among the best-performing assets since Donald Trump took office as President of the United States in January, having risen by as much as 15 percent since the beginning of the year. Due to rapid changes in the White House’s tariff policy, concerns are growing that a trade war will spur inflation and cause economic slowdowns in both the U.S. and the rest of the world, leading to a decline in stocks on Wall Street, or what investment experts like to call a correction. This is why gold is now in focus.

– Gold as an asset in the context of a portfolio provides very good diversification due to its lack of correlation with traditional investment assets such as stocks or bonds. Additionally, gold is considered a portfolio hedge since it performs best during times of high uncertainty, geopolitical, and political risks. To be fair, it should be noted that holding gold does not yield any fixed return like stocks (dividends) or bonds (coupons), and the only way to profit from holding gold is through appreciation in value – explains Niko Maričić from InterCapital Asset Management for Lider, adding that for this reason, in an environment of high real returns, gold usually provides negative performance.

However, despite very high real returns last year, gold achieved a value increase of as much as 37 percent, and since the beginning of 2025, it has risen by 15 percent, confirms Maričić. The primary reasons for this, according to him, are global economic uncertainty, strong demand from central banks to diversify their foreign exchange reserves, geopolitical tensions, and declining interest rates.

By 2030, the price could double

– In the upcoming period, I expect the upward trend to continue due to the maintenance of uncertainty caused by the introduction of protectionism by the U.S. president and continued demand from central banks. It is important to mention that gold is an extremely volatile asset, and an excessive allocation to gold within a portfolio can significantly contribute to portfolio volatility. The allocation I suggest to clients ranges from five to ten percent. The lower end of the range is for clients with more conservative portfolios, while the higher end is for clients with more aggressive portfolios – says Maričić.

That rising trade tensions, falling stocks in the U.S., the possibility of a return to high inflation, unpredictable U.S. economic policy that could lead to a weakening of the U.S. dollar, and an economic recession that could affect Europe, the U.S., and the rest of the world are factors that will continue to influence market behavior and investor sentiment throughout the year is confirmed by Saša Ivanović, owner and director of the Gold Center. He claims that there is also the continuation of conflicts we see in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and these are just the crises we currently see, not accounting for others that are yet unpredictable.

– At the same time, stable demand for gold from large institutional players such as central banks, rising demand in the Asian market, and increasing activity from American speculators could push gold prices to new record levels. In light of all this, we expect gold prices to move above three thousand euros per ounce, which would correspond to a growth of about eight percent in the next three quarters – claims Ivanović.

Regardless of short-term price movements, he adds, it is important to keep in mind the long-term nature of investing in gold, which is supported by predictions from experts at the renowned London Bullion Market Association – LBMA – that gold prices could reach seven thousand dollars per ounce by 2030, concludes Ivanović.

Finally, it should be noted that today Citi Research raised its target price for gold for the next three months to 3200 dollars per ounce, while the initial estimate was three thousand dollars, citing strong demand in the sector and increased demand from exchange-traded funds.

– Gold prices could reach 3500 dollars per ounce by the end of the year, supported by much higher demand for investment protection as investors fear stagflation in the U.S. – stated Citi, as reported by Reuters.