mudwerks:

Gold prices hit a new record above $1,040 an ounce on Tuesday as the dollar lost ground following reports that the US currency’s critical role in global oil trading was coming under scrutiny.

Gold reached a record $1,043.45, racing past its previous peak of $1,030.80 set last March when Bear Stearns, the US investment bank ran into trouble.

The catalyst was a report in The Independent newspaper in London that Gulf Arab states, along with China, Russia, Japan and France, had held secret meetings to consider using a basket of currencies to trade oil instead of the US dollar.

The report was denied by Saudi Arabia’s central bank and a Kuwaiti minister said there weren’t any negotiations, according to Reuters. Top officials from Russia, speaking on the sidelines of the IMF meeting in Istanbul, also denied the report, the news agency said.

Analysts were also sceptical.