Fiscal explosion in the United States or Europe, political turmoil amongst two countries or healthy economic growth in China and India, gold successively managed to increase its shine for one reason or another.
With burgeoning debt crises across European countries along with bleak prospects surrounding the US economy in 2010 the yellow metal has been in vogue for the past few years; it hit its all time high of $1421 an ounce in November, gaining around 27 percent this year.
As the global economy steps into 2011 with several unsolved issues, the market expects gold to rise further; investors would continue to flock because of golds safe haven lure, whereas the appetite of central banks is also likely to remain intact. Though, official gold buying remained lower in 2010 compared to 2009, it is expected that they will remain net buyers in 2011.
"Gold has performed its true function as the ultimate store of value in the turbulent economic seas of 2010," Peter Hambro, the Chairman of Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk, said to a foreign newspaper, adding that with the continuing onslaught of uncertainties in global economic weather patterns, gold remains his lodestone for 2011.
Since gold price has already gained much in the past two years, a slew of key prediction points towards a relatively modest surge next year, aiming the yellow metal to touch around $1550-1600 an ounce in 2011. This represents a jump of around 10 percent compared to annual growth of around 25 percent in 2009 and 2010.
Mining industrys sentiments also chime strongly with market expectations. PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, a leading consulting services provider, interviewed executives of various gold mining companies around the world, and has found out that around 73 percent of respondents believe that prices will rise over the next 12 months.
Amidst all bull-talk, there are only a few investment gurus at odds with the gold optimists. Among them is Doug Kass, a financial columnist and hedge fund manager who strongly believes that gold price will plummet in 2011, asserting that gold has become a crowded trade.
However, in 2006/07, the world was full of optimists who had foreseen global economy on a persistent rise - only a handful of doom seers, like Nouriel Roubini, said the world economy was going to crash. Whether the likes of Doug Kass are Roubinis of the gold market, only time will tell.