LONDON: Gold surged to a new record high price of $1,085.07 an ounce yesterday, a day after an announcement of a massive sale of gold by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to India.

Prices in London hit $1,085.07 per troy ounce and New York prices reached $1,084.70, breaking records set last month.

The latest surge came a day after the IMF announced it sold 200 tonnes of gold to India’s central bank over a two-week period last month for a total of $6.7bn to bolster its finances.

The IMF said the transaction, which was in the process of being settled, involved daily sales that were phased over a two-week period during October 19-30.

A senior IMF official said that the IMF was “lucky” in selling the 200 tonnes to India for roughly $1,045 an ounce. The deal represented around half the IMF’s planned sale of its gold reserves.