The price of gold, fueled by growing concerns about the banking sector following the cut-price takeover of Swiss giant Credit Suisse, broke through the symbolic threshold of $2,000 an ounce on Monday, AFP reported.

As shares of major banks tumbled on the stock market on Monday following the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, investors fear a possible chain reaction in the banking sector and head for gold, a traditional safe haven in times of turbulence.

The yellow metal rose 0.33% to $1,995 an ounce on Monday morning, after earlier rising to $2,009.73.

Since the bankruptcy of the American bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) ten days ago, the price of gold in the financial markets has increased by almost 9%.

The price of gold exceeded the threshold of $2,000 per ounce only twice: in August 2000, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in March 2022, in the first weeks after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Analysts note that how the US dollar will develop will also affect the price of gold. A stronger dollar is a negative factor for commodities such as gold, which are quoted in the US currency.

“We believe that the US dollar is a more reliable safe-haven asset than gold. This means that in situations where the risks are quite large, we usually see markets move from gold to the US dollar,” said Vivek Dhar, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank. Australia.