by Jasmine Ng, Eddie Van Der Walt, and Ranjeetha Pakiam
Bloomberg.com
Gold surged to the highest level in more than two years in a frantic global hunt for haven assets as Britain’s voters were projected to back leaving the European Union after a historic poll.
Bullion for immediate delivery jumped as much as 8.1 percent to $1,358.54 an ounce, the highest price since March 2014, and traded at $1,328.90 at 5:09 a.m. in London, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The rally was the biggest daily jump since 2008, setting off a surge in shares of gold producers.
“Gold will be a preferred safe-haven asset with a ‘Leave’ vote,” said Barnabas Gan, an economist at Singapore-based Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, who forecast that it could rally to as much as $1,400 if ‘Remain’ loses. Bullion’s expected to remain volatile until the final verdict is out, according to Gan.