Gold prices expected to trend higher

Bank Muamalat (M) Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid

PETALING JAYA: The stage is set for gold prices to potentially shine further this year, buoyed by uncertainties triggered by geopolitical risks, the trade war between China and the United States and the likely gradual interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve (Fed).

Economists and commodity traders on the whole are anticipating average gold prices to rise more than US$2,000 per ounce this year, although they said downward pressure could set in and lower the price of the commodity if global uncertainties were to abate.