LONDON, June 24 Gold soared as much as 8 percent to its highest in more than two years on Friday after Britain delivered a shock vote to leave the European Union, leaving investors to seek protection in the precious metal.
Gold delivered double-digit percentage gains in sterling terms, topping 1,000 pounds an ounce for the first time in more than three years, while gold priced in euros rallied as much as 13 percent.
The metal pulled back from early highs however as the dollar, in which it is priced, headed for its biggest daily gain since 1978 against a currency basket, but remained elevated. Spot gold peaked at $1,358.20 per ounce and was up 4.5 percent at $1,313 an ounce at 0753 GMT, while U.S. gold futures for August delivery were up $59.40 an ounce at $1,322.50, off an early high of $1,362.60 an ounce.
Gold priced in sterling was at 958.68 pounds an ounce, up 13.6 percent, having peaked at 1,019.03 pounds overnight. Euro-denominated gold was up 7.7 percent at 1,187.70 euros an ounce, off a high of 1,244.34 euros.Spot prices, already boosted by fading expectations for a U.S. rate hike, are now up 25 percent this year.
“All we needed was Brexit to get this next leg up for gold,” Willem Middelkoop, founder of Netherlands-based Commodity Discovery Fund, said. “Overnight all this energy has made gold explode. It was a $100 move from the bottom to the high just in a few hours, and that’s quite unprecedented.”
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