XAU/USD: will geopolitical tensions push gold to $2,000 by the end of the year?

The price of gold may continue to rise even after reaching a multi-year high last week, a leading analyst said earlier today.

Indeed, prices are expected to "reach $2,000 by the end of 2019," predicts David Roch, President and Global Strategist at Independent Strategy in London.

The spot price of gold reached $1,422.85 on 25 June, its highest level in more than five years. Last week, gold futures were also at their highest level since August 2013, reaching $1,417.70.

Gold prices have been on an upward trend, given recent forecasts of a decline in Federal Reserve interest rates and heightened geopolitical concerns - conditions that Roch believes could weigh down on the stock market.

"In fact, I think the financial markets are about to collapse like a pile of sand," he told CNBC.

In the short term, however, gold prices fell slightly today, continuing to react to last Friday's better than expected US employment report. The NFP report haq indeed tempered investors' expectations of a decline in Fed rates.

Despite this, Roch expects gold prices to continue to rise, partly because international trade tensions will strengthen negative sentiment among stock market investors, he said.

"I think the trade dispute with the United States is a global conflict of much broader scope, which will undermine prospects for stock market growth," he stated.

In view of this outlook, Roch recommended that investors keep gold in their portfolios alongside some European fixed income securities and US Treasury bonds.