Gold price at near 3-year low

The gold price plunged to a near three-year low Wednesday, with the spot price dropping to around $1,230 per ounce, and experts noted that price of the metal may fall even further in the future.

"A bearish gold market is expected in the next two or three years, and it is not very likely that we will see any major price increase in the short term," Sun Yonggang, a precious metals analyst at Everbright Futures, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Liu Junwen, research director at precious metals portal 91jin.com, said there is a very good chance that the gold price will drop below $1,200 per ounce in July, and in the long run the price of the metal may even fall to around $1,000 per ounce.

Major investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and HSBC have all lowered their expectations on the gold price for the next two years.

Experts said that the latest plunge in the gold price was triggered by a speech from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke last week, which indicated that the US will taper its quantitative easing later this year if the US economic outlook improves sufficiently.

Over the past week, the gold price has dropped by more than $100 per ounce. Other precious metals such as silver have also shown a major price decline.

The gold price had already experienced a major decline in April this year, which spurred a rush of Chinese consumers buying gold products - to the tune of 300 tons of gold in two weeks, according to media reports.

But this time, consumers are behaving more rationally and no massive buying spree has been reported.

Experts said that demand for gold jewelry this year is still expected to see a major surge given the low price.

"But I do not suggest investors buy gold now if they want a short-term return," Sun noted.

The gold price saw a moderate increase in April after the Chinese buying spree, but Liu from 91jin.com said that there is no direct relation between the purchases and the gold price, since the price is mainly connected to US macroeconomic performance and the US dollar index trend.

"The US is expected to announce a new way to measure its GDP data in July. Using the new method, the US GDP growth may be around 3 percentage points higher than using the old method, which could further dampen the gold market," Liu noted.

China consumed a total of 320.54 tons of gold in the first quarter, surging 25.6 percent year-on-year, according to a report released by the China Gold Association in May. Analysts noted that China's gold demand will grow this year, but Chinese demand growth is not sufficient to support a strong gold price.