Gold skyrockets as investors flee volatile markets

AFP - The price of gold struck a record high above $1,700 an ounce on Monday with dealers flocking to the safe haven metal as Asian stocks tumbled following Standard & Poor's downgrade of US debt.

The price of gold reached $1,704.30 an ounce in Hong Kong trade.

"People are just taking their money out [of other markets], especially from the dollar and euro and investing in gold and the Japanese yen," a Tokyo-based trader told Dow Jones Newswires.

Asian markets were sent spinning on Monday after S&P late Friday cut the United States' AAA rating by one notch, citing deep divisions in Washington over its long-term fiscal standing.

The turmoil has led investors to seek out less-risky gold at a time of economic uncertainty.

S&P's downgrade compounded already weak sentiment amid fears that the eurozone debt crisis will spread to other nations, while the United States has posted a series of poor data indicating an economic slowdown.

It has led some analysts to warn of another global financial crisis that could even be worse than that of 2008-09.