The Australian gold stocks had inspired a beehive trading on Wednesday following the precious metal's spot price record spikes in US trading overnight, with the spot gold price reaching as high as $US1,234.55 per fine ounce in the US session.

Australian miners reacted almost predictably in the local market as by 1206 EAST, Lihir Gold Ltd shot up by 3.3 percent at $4.03 while Newcrest Mining moved up by the same rate but with much higher tag of $32.45. It must be recalled that Newcrest is eying Lihir for a takeover bid.

IG Markets research analyst Ben Potter attributed the precious metal's record surge to market concerns on the sovereign debt issue that plagues Europe, as he admitted that gold at this time "has got up some serious momentum and had a really good run last night."

He noted that the intra-session high in US trading was above the previous peak of $US1,226.50 and "you will probably see another run-up in gold tonight, but some short term profit-taking soon."

Mr Potter said that currently floating concerns that the European bailout suite would eventually result to inflation fuelled up higher gold prices, as he observed that for more than a while, "gold prices will probably continue to grind higher and it has a tendency to run-up as an inflation hedge."

By 1209 AEST, gold's spot price in local markets steadied at $US1,227.55 per fine ounce, an improvement of $US22.45 from Tuesday's closing price of $US1,205.10.

The busiest gold future contract, which is slated for a June delivery, peaked to a high of $US1,235.20 in overnight trading before settling down at $US1,220.30.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong market has also seen a record high price of gold as it opened up for Wednesday trading.