Pichya Pisuthikul, secretary of the Gold Traders Association, said trading in ornamental gold on Wednesday closed at Bt12,900/baht, while gold bar ended at Bt12,500/baht.

"Domestic gold prices fluctuated this morning in line with world gold prices.

"The gold bar price opened at Bt12,650 per baht and the ornamental gold price opened at Bt13,110 per baht," he said.

Gold fluctuated on the world futures market yesterday, swinging in a range between U$705 (Bt26,666) and $713.5 per ounce.

"Thai investors have shifted to investing more in gold because world prices are still on the rise," said Pichya.

He also said: "The domestic gold price is expected to climb to Bt13,500 per baht".

He believes the recent domestic price surge will peak at Bt13,500, reasoning that if the price rises too high, people will buy less of the precious metal. Moreover, some holders of gold might sell the metal to take a profit.

Pichya said that if prices were, however, to climb to Bt15,000, such a rise would take a long time to achieve.

The price has already increased by 30 per cent from the Bt10,000-Bt10,600 level at the beginning of the year.

Meanwhile, caretaker Energy Minister Viset Choopiban said fuel consumption in April had fallen by 9.3 per cent year on year to 51.7 million litres as a result of the hikes in world oil prices.

"The value of oil imports this year is most likely to decrease by 10 per cent from last year, as planned," he said.