Gold price in May 2009: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed May 2009 at $978.80 an ounce, up 9.89% on the month. The highest close was $978.80 on 29 May and the lowest $887.60 on 1 May. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, May 2009 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = April 2009 close ($890.70).
Daily gold prices in May 2009 (20 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 1 May | $884.00 | $889.20 | $881.50 | $887.60 | −$3.10 | −0.35% |
| Mon 4 May | $885.80 | $907.50 | $885.80 | $901.60 | +$14.00 | +1.58% |
| Tue 5 May | $903.50 | $912.30 | $902.00 | $903.70 | +$2.10 | +0.23% |
| Wed 6 May | $901.30 | $911.10 | $901.30 | $910.50 | +$6.80 | +0.75% |
| Thu 7 May | $922.40 | $924.00 | $910.40 | $915.00 | +$4.50 | +0.49% |
| Fri 8 May | $910.10 | $915.30 | $910.10 | $914.40 | −$0.60 | −0.07% |
| Mon 11 May | — | — | — | $913.00 | −$1.40 | −0.15% |
| Tue 12 May | $918.50 | $923.50 | $916.10 | $923.50 | +$10.50 | +1.15% |
| Wed 13 May | $922.00 | $929.70 | $921.20 | $925.50 | +$2.00 | +0.22% |
| Thu 14 May | — | — | — | $928.00 | +$2.50 | +0.27% |
| Fri 15 May | $925.20 | $931.60 | $925.20 | $930.90 | +$2.90 | +0.31% |
| Mon 18 May worst day | $929.60 | $932.90 | $918.70 | $921.30 | −$9.60 | −1.03% |
| Tue 19 May | — | — | — | $926.30 | +$5.00 | +0.54% |
| Wed 20 May | $933.00 | $940.50 | $931.00 | $937.00 | +$10.70 | +1.16% |
| Thu 21 May | — | — | — | $950.80 | +$13.80 | +1.47% |
| Fri 22 May | $956.90 | $958.70 | $956.90 | $958.50 | +$7.70 | +0.81% |
| Tue 26 May | $953.00 | $953.50 | $944.00 | $953.10 | −$5.40 | −0.56% |
| Wed 27 May | $947.20 | $956.00 | $947.20 | $953.20 | +$0.10 | +0.01% |
| Thu 28 May | $948.60 | $964.90 | $944.00 | $961.50 | +$8.30 | +0.87% |
| Fri 29 May best day | $959.20 | $980.40 | $959.00 | $978.80 | +$17.30 | +1.80% |
Close = COMEX gold futures settlement in US dollars per troy ounce; change is against the previous trading day's close. Open, high and low are shown as — on 4 days where the source has no usable intraday data (common before 2012, when the front-month contract traded thinly in the data feed).
Monthly open, high, low and close
| May 2009 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $887.60 | $978.80 | $887.60 | $978.80 | +9.89% |
| Intraday | $884.00 | $980.40 29 May | $881.50 1 May | $978.80 | — |
Settlements: first, highest, lowest and last daily close of the month (the basis used on the 2009 page and the monthly returns heatmap). Intraday: the highest and lowest traded prices in the daily bars.
Source: COMEX gold futures (GC=F) daily settlements and intraday bars via Yahoo Finance; US CPI (FRED CPIAUCSL) for the inflation adjustment; World Bank Pink Sheet for the monthly London average. Figures are final settlements; sources may occasionally revise historical data.
Gold in May 2009: summary
Gold surged 9.89% in May 2009, settling the month at $978.80 an ounce against $890.70 at the end of April 2009. Gold closed higher on 15 of 20 trading days and lower on 5; the strongest session was 29 May 2009 (+1.80%) and the weakest 18 May 2009 (−1.03%). Settlement prices ranged from $887.60 on 1 May 2009 to $978.80 on 29 May 2009, a spread of $91.20 (10.2%), narrower than the 12.5% average of the previous 12 months.
On the monthly change, May 2009 was the best May since 2001.
How May 2009 compares
- Against other Mays: at +9.89%, May 2009 ranks 1st of 26 Mays since 2001 (best first), the best since 2001.
- Against every month: it ranks 12th of 313 months since September 2000, better than 96% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $91.20, or 10.2% of the opening level, 0.8× the 12.5% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 0.69% (up or down), against 1.57% over the previous 12 months, so May 2009 was calmer than usual.
- Streaks: the longest run of higher closes was 4 days and the longest run of lower closes 2 days.
- Bigger picture: at the month-end close gold was +10.77% for 2009 to the end of May and +10.31% over 12 months (against the May 2008 close of $887.30).
- Average price: the mean of the 20 daily closes was $929.71; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $929.00.
Across the other 25 completed Mays since 2001, gold averaged −0.11% and rose in 12 of them (48%). May 2009 beat that average by 10.0 percentage points. The gold seasonality tool shows the same statistics for every calendar month, and the monthly returns heatmap lays out all Mays side by side.
May 2009 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $978.80 closing price equals about $1,545 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 213.0 in May 2009 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 58% more than the nominal figure. The gold price history hub restates every year's close on the same basis, and the all-time-high tracker lists every record close in nominal dollars.
Gold price by month in 2009
The gold price in 2009 page has the year's open, high, low and close, and the monthly archive on the gold price history hub explains how these month pages are built.
Frequently asked questions
What was the gold price in May 2009?
Gold closed May 2009 at $978.80 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $887.60 and averaged $929.71 across 20 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $929.00.
Did gold go up in May 2009?
Yes. Gold was up 9.89% in May 2009, from $890.70 at the end of April 2009 to $978.80. It closed higher on 15 of 20 days. Among Mays since 2001 it ranks 1st of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in May 2009?
The highest close was $978.80 on 29 May 2009. The highest intraday price in the daily bars was $980.40 on 29 May 2009.
What was the lowest gold price in May 2009?
The lowest close was $887.60 on 1 May 2009, $91.20 (10.2%) below the month’s highest close. The lowest intraday price was $881.50 on 1 May 2009.
Educational information only, not financial advice and not a forecast. Past prices do not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer and editorial policy.