Billionaire financier George Soros said that gold prices might continue to rise after hitting record highs this week but there are no safe bets in markets nowadays.   

"Gold is the only actual bull market currently. It just made a new high yesterday. In the present circumstances that may continue," Soros said in an interview at a Thomson Reuters Newsmaker event.

"It will be very interesting to see if there is a decline in the next few weeks because...everything that makes a new high almost immediately afterwards reverses and disappoints," Soros said.   

"I called gold the ultimate bubble which means it may go higher but it's certainly not safe and it's not going to last forever."

Gold prices on the spot market rose to a record high on Tuesday amid concerns about the global economy. "This is a period of great uncertainty so nothing is very safe," Soros said.

He said he saw no sign of any return to strong growth in the United States which is struggling to emerge from its worst downturn since World War II.

"If I had to sum it up in one word, I would say: 'blah.' It may slip into double-dip (recession) or it may not, but it is going to slow down," Soros said.

"There is no question in my mind because the stimulus is running out, and there is great resistance to any further stimulus."    

Soros said Japan did the right thing when it intervened in foreign exchange markets on Wednesday to bring down the value of the yen.

"Certainly, they are hurting because the currency is too strong so I think they are right to intervene," Soros said.
   
Japan sold yen in the market on Wednesday for the first time since 2004 and said it would do so again to prevent the currency's rise from hurting exporters and threatening a fragile economic recovery.   

"They had a real estate boom and then a crash in banking ... It's 20 years now, and they are still just struggling along," Soros said. - Reuters