ASX gold stocks gain as bullion reaches record high

The news: Gold stocks gained on the ASX as the price of spot bullion topped USD2,500 ($3,739) an ounce for the first time.

The numbers: Gold majors Emerald Resources (4.3%), Gold Road Resources (4%), Evolution Mining (3.3%), West African Resources (2.8%), Perseus Mining (2.8%), Ramelius Resources (2.7%) and De Grey Mining (2.7%) made up seven of the top 10 performing stocks across the ASX 200 by 1:05pm AEST, though the materials sector trimmed 0.06%.

Spot gold edged 0.23% lower to USD2,502.33, according to Bloomberg figures.

The context: The prospect of lower borrowing costs has driven up the price of gold in recent days, with financial markets betting on a 74.5% likelihood that the US Federal Reserve will cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points at its September policy meeting.

The rise in bullion, which tends to thrive in a low interest rate environment, follows the release of new data in the US last week that suggested cooling inflation may trigger a cycle of interest rate cuts in the world's largest economy.