Gold @ $1000.00

[gavinmccallister]

Price `Attainable'

``Gold at $1,000 is attainable, but to achieve it we'll have to see a further deterioration in the macro-economic environment leading to a decline in the dollar,'' said Hong Kong-based Alastair McIntyre, head of marketing at ScotiaMocatta, the bullion unit of the Bank of Nova Scotia.

``Jim Rogers is a respected figure as he saw the move in commodity prices before it happened,'' he said by phone today.

The Goldman Sachs Commodity Index has increased 13 percent this year, compared with a 4.8 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index. Benchmark U.S. Treasuries have lost about 1.6 percent, according to Merrill Lynch & Co. indexes.

``Nearly everything makes a new all-time high in a bull market,'' said Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum hedge fund with Soros in the 1970s. He didn't predict when gold would reach $1,000 an ounce. The precious metal traded at $623.10 an ounce at 1:45 p.m. Singapore time today.

China's booming economy is fueling demand for energy and raw materials needed for factories, homes and cars. The nation, home to 1.3 billion people, grew 10.2 percent in the first quarter, up from 9.9 percent in the previous three months. China is the world's biggest consumer of steel, copper and zinc and the second-largest user of energy.