Gold prices have risen sharply on the financial markets, rising above $300 an ounce for the first time in two years earlier this week.

It may be a sign that investors have lost confidence in the real value of shares as a result of the scandal over accounting practices at the bankrupt energy group Enron.

There has also been a surge in demand in Japan, where investing in the metal is seen as a potentially safer option than putting money in the country's ailing banks.

Changes in policy by mining companies on the amount of gold they sell in advance of production - to reduce the risk of adverse price movements - has also affected the price.

Safe haven

Enron managed to hide losses through clever accounting.

Investors are worried that other big firms may have done the same, which means their shares could slump in value once the truth is out.

With so much uncertainty around, investors have suddenly recovered their appetite for gold - it has regained some of the safe haven status it had for centuries as an asset that can be relied on to retain its value in troubled times.

Its safe haven status also accounts for its increased popularity in Japan where the government will end a scheme at the end of March guaranteeing that depositors will get their money back if a bank fails.

Temporary enthusiasm?

Gold prices have languished in recent times partly because Central Banks have flooded the market by selling off their reserves, and partly because investors believed they would make more money from trading shares and currencies.

But with many of the world's leading share indexes losing value last year, savers have been returning to more traditional forms of investment.

But there's no guarantee that current high prices for gold will last - there have been temporary bursts of enthusiasm for the metal before.