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In 1971 President Richard Nixon ended US dollar gold price per ounce convertibility to gold, bringing to an end the central role of gold in world currency systems. Three years later Congress legalized the ownership of gold by US citizens. Freed from the government-mandated price of $35 per ounce, the dollar and gold floated. In 1979 and 1980, investors' lack of confidence in the government's ability to restrict the expansion of the money supply resulted in panic buying of precious metals as a hedge against inflation. Gold prices soared, and in January 1980 the gold price hit a record of $850 per ounce. During the four-year period from 1976 to 1980, the price of gold had risen by more than 750%.

In the early 1980s the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates to restrict money supply growth. This policy achieved its purpose and by 1982 interest rates were declining and the fear of inflation had subsided. Investment capital responded by moving into financial assets from commodities including gold, and the market soared. After the historic highs of January 1980, the price of gold meandered in the $300-$400 range until hitting a low of $256 in February 2001. Then the bull market for gold returned, and by November 2009 the price had pushed up to $1,140 - a rise of 445%. To some investors, this suggests that history is repeating itself and gold is heading beyond $2,000 per ounce. To return to the 1980 high, when adjusted for inflation, the price would need to be over $2,000 now.

Today's Gold Market

The price of gold is set by the Gold Fixing, which is also known as the Gold Fix or London Gold Fixing. Twice a day by telephone, at 10:30 GMT and 15:00 GMT, five members of the London Gold Pool meet to settle contracts between members of the London bullion market. These settlements brokered by the Gold Fixing are widely recognized as the benchmark used to price gold and gold products throughout the world.

Let's examine some of the factors that influence the price of gold.

Gold Supply

There is an agency that tracks of all the gold in the world. gold price per ounce Fields Mineral Services Ltd (GFMS) is an independent, London-based consultancy and research company, dedicated to the study of the international gold and silver markets. GFMS publishes the annual Gold Survey, which features comprehensive analysis and statistics on gold supply and demand for over sixty countries. GFMS estimates that above-ground gold stocks represent a total volume of approximately 160,000 tonnes, of which over 60% has been mined since 1950. GFMS estimates that all the gold ever mined would form a cube measuring 20 yards (19 meters) on each side.

The production of new gold does not generally keep pace with inflation. The aboveground gold stock increases at a fairly constant rate of around 1.7% per year. During the last 50 years the largest annual increase was 2.1% and the smallest increase was 1.4%. This is less than the long-term historic rate of inflation, which is 4%.

The single largest holder of gold in the world is the United States government, with 8,133.5 tonnes. As of November 2009 this gold supply was worth approximately $330 billion. Other top holders of gold include Germany, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Italy, France, SPDR Gold Shares, China, Switzerland, Japan, and the Netherlands.

The US Dollar

The price of gold is widely understood to inversely track the dollar. When the dollar falls the price of gold tends to rise. But there have been many cases when the price of gold did not keep up with changes in the value of the dollar, or even ran counter to it.

For example, when gold peaked in 1980, it reflected a gold price per ounce fear of inflation in the wake of the 1979 oil shock and a U.S. monetary policy that lacked credibility. The case for gold as a hedge against inflation was persuasive. But today, the price of oil is up significantly in currencies other than the dollar. Even measured in euros, it has returned to the February save-haven peak. The weakness of the US dollar alone cannot explain the rise in price.