September saw sizeable fluctuations in the price of gold, rising to its highest level for a year at the beginning of the month, before dropping to a seven-week low. At the time of opening on the 1^st September, the gold price was £1,019.74 per troy ounce, before it reached highs of £1,029.02 on the 4^th. Prices remained around this high until the 8^th, after which point they gradually declined over the course of the month.

An early rise in the price of gold

In the first week of September, the initial rise in the gold price came as disappointing economic figures from the United States sent the dollar into decline. These gold prices were actually the highest in the year to date.

The subsequent decline coincided with US President Trump’s signature to a bill that provided approximately $15bn in emergency hurricane aid to areas afflicted by Hurricane Harvey. The dollar strengthened through the coming days, further pushing the gold price down.

On the 20th of September, an announcement by the US Federal Reserve sparked fears of a hike in interest rates this December. The price of gold is greatly affected by market news like US interest rates and it promptly fell again to its lowest point of the month so far, at £956.15 on 21st of September, a drop of just below two per cent from the price 24 hours earlier.

Speculation on US interest rates continues

The gold price showed a final small peak for the month on the 26^th September, reaching a height of £967.76. Analysts have attributed its peak to the disappointing election victory of Angela Merkel in Germany which caused the euro to dip.

The price then continued to fall through the last week of September, affected by continuing fears of US interest rate hikes. The US economy strengthened through the last days of September, reporting promising treasury yields, which pushed the price of gold down to its lowest point in seven weeks.

Overall, the value of gold fell 3.84 per cent from the 1^st September to the 2^nd October, and almost 6 per cent from its highest point on the 8^th.

There’s no saying for certain what the gold price will do next but if the downward trend continues you may be in a position to buy gold at a low price. If you’re considering buying gold bars as an investment, then have a look over our range of investment gold here.