Gold price likely to peak at $1,500 per ounce by year-end, says GFMS

The gold survey also said the year 2017 had seen a good demand for the yellow metal by central banks

After a $120 rise (per ounce) in gold prices in the past six weeks, analysts are expecting higher prices. The latest forecast has come from GFMS Thomson Reuters, which said in its just-released fourth-quarter Gold Survey 2017: “We expect gold prices to average $1,360 per ounce and hit a 2018 peak of over $1,500 per ounce later in the year.”

The price is around $1,360, a level seen for the first time after August 2016. It was $1,242 in the second week of December.

The survey explained: “Our forecast discounts three Fed rate hikes, although a potential overheating from the effect