Gold heads to 2-year high

(CNN) -- The price of gold dipped slightly Friday but gained 4.6 percent on the week as economic uncertainty has made investors look to precious metals for security.

This was gold's strongest weekly performance since July 2006, with a new record of $958.40 per ounce set Thursday. Platinum and silver also enjoyed record gains during the week.

Little by way of significant development in mining and detection technology has added to the yellow metal's increasing scarcity.

"Growing jewelry demand, constrained supply, record levels of investment demand, and general economic uncertainty especially in the United States are all supporting the record high gold prices that we are seeing", explained Vince Borg, Senior Vice President of Barrick Gold -- the world's largest gold mining company.

Consumer demand in China is up 25 percent year-on-year making it the second largest market after India.

Russia also saw record growth in consumer demand during 2007.

Gold has gained over 30 percent since interest rates started to fall in the US in September 2007 and many analysts now predict that gold will surpass $1,000 an ounce by the end of 2008. E-mail to a friend