Gold price up by $4 an ounce

THE PRICE of gold rose nearly $4 an ounce yesterday to $293.75 as bullion markets at last began to take the possibility of a financial meltdown seriously, writes Clifford German. The price has now recovered $20 an ounce from the 19-year low point reached last month.

Earlier, however, a report by Gold Fields Mineral Services claimed that sales of scrap gold rose 160 per cent to 700 tons, mainly as a result of "distress sales" of gold jewellery in east Asia, adding almost 30 per cent to the regular supply from the world's gold mines,which rose just 3 per cent to a record 2,523 tons.