Citing gold as a safe haven, a weakening dollar and inflationary pressure the bank has raised its forecast from $850 to $915 for 2008.

It’s not like us to be sarcastic as far as banks are concerned, but gold stands at $926/oz and we are almost half way through the year, so HSBC are duly awarded this weeks medal for bravery!

According to Reuters James Steel, metals analyst at HSBC Securities in New York wrote:

“The U.S. dollar remains an important determinant of gold prices, but inflation concerns and a resumption in Fed rate cuts may offset the bearish effect of recent USD strength,”

Looking further ahead James Steel goes on to raise his gold forecast to $850 from $725 for 2009, and to $725 from $650 for 2010.

$650 for 2010! Well we think it will be over $2000/oz by then, so one of us is going to get it drastically wrong.

Enjoy the break.

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