LONDON: Gold powered through the $1,000 per ounce psychological barrier yesterday, carried by a wave of pent-up technical momentum and dollar weakness, with some analysts eyeing last year's record high at $1,030.80.

Some investors were also seeing gold as a warning to stock market bulls and were fretting about the result of central banks and governments pumping billions of dollars into banking systems to boost growth.

Spot gold rose to $1,007.45 an ounce, its highest since March 2008, when bullion touched a record high at $1,030.80. It was trading at $1,004.65 an ounce by 1112 GMT versus $993.85 an ounce late in New York on Monday.