NEW YORK (Scrap Register): Gold prices are likely to tick higher into early next year, said Societe Generale in a snippet.

“We forecast gold prices to progressively rise over the year as investors seek refuge from risk assets going into a recessionary period in 2020,” the bank says in a research note.

“We forecast gold prices to average $1,400 an ounce in the first quarter of 2020. The monetary U-turn of the Fed and the ECB [European Central Bank] in recent weeks also offers some respite to non-yielding assets,” Societe Generale added.

“As we no longer expect the Fed to raise rates this cycle, and with the ECB on perpetual hold … real rates are likely heading near zero, if not negative, which should make gold relatively easier to carry in a portfolio,” Societe Generale noted.