Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will resign from office

Gold price briefly surpassed $1,800 per ounce Tuesday night (Asia Time) before turning sharply lower amid reports that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will resign from office.

The Gold price hit $1,804.40 at approximately 12:58pm ET, but subsequently tumbled to as low as $1,778.20 before rebounding slightly to $1,785.00 per ounce.

Commenting on the outlook for gold, long-time commodities investor Dennis Gartman wrote in his daily Gartman Letter that ”Regarding gold, we are, we have been and we expect to continue to be bullish of it in non-US dollar terms and most notably in EUR and Sterling terms.”

“Over the course of the past several weeks, gold has pushed steadily upward through €1200/oz, then €1250 and then to and through €1300/oz, where it effectively stands this morning as we write,” Gartman added. ”In dollar terms, there is obvious good selling at the $1800 level as there always is at ‘Big Figures’ such as this and it shall take some sort of news probably to allow gold to make its way upward through $1800 today. Nonetheless, if it does not push through today, it shall push through tomorrow and if not tomorrow then later this week, for the trend is clear and the bears are on the defensive.”

Gartman went on to note that “Interestingly, there is likely to be a greater likelihood of gold pushing upward through €1200 definitively today than there is for gold to press upward through $1800 simply because the EUR is itself so much on the defensive. Oh, and one final note, The GLD ETF reported yesterday that it had added 10.59 tonnes to its stated holdings of 1,255.65 tonnes. This we see as considerable.”