NEW YORK, Nov 22: Gold rallied above $800 an ounce on Friday, ending the week 8 per cent higher, as mounting economic uncertainties and strong physical bullion demand triggered a bout of heavy buying.

Investor confidence was shaken after shares of Citigroup, the second-largest US bank by assets, tumbled for a fifth straight day, as the company looked at options, including a sale of parts of the company or a merger.

US stocks were up 4 per cent in Friday’s late trade, a day after Wall Street slid to 11-year lows and blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 500 points. Gold is really starting to re-emerge as the safe-haven asset, said David Meger, a metals analyst at Alaron Trading.

The fact that gold is holding up well in the midst of the commodity decline shows some nice physical support. We have noticed very significant physical demand every time the market would test the lower $700 levels, Meger said.

Spot gold rose to $800.70 an ounce, its highest since Oct 21. It ended at $798.75 Gold prices managed to rally, even though global equities fell ... It is possible that gold is benefiting from safe-haven buying, which could be offsetting the impact of rising deflationary pressures, said James Steel, chief commodity analyst at HSBC.

Global demand for gold jumped 18 per cent year-over-year to 1,133.4 tons in the third quarter, reversing a weaker trend earlier this year as investors hoarded gold bullion coins and bars and jewelry buying rose, the World Gold Council said on Wednesday.—Reuters