Goldbugs are feeling their most bullish in months.

LONDON, England - March 11, 2012 - Investors have increased their holdings in exchange-traded products backed by gold for seven weeks in a row, leaving them with a record 2,408 tons valued at over $130 billion, according to data from Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, 16 out of the 23 analysts surveyed expect the gold price to gain this week, with only one neutral - the most since mid-November. The gold price is already up 9% so far this year, building on 11 years of increases.

The surge is being driven by speculation that the Federal Reserve could push through further quantitative easing.

"There's not an overwhelming sense that there's going to be great times ahead," said Jeffrey Sica, chief investment officer of SICA Wealth Management. "As long as the quantitative easing devaluating the dollar scenario is present, it will support the price of gold."

In the same vein, the strength of the U.S. dollar - which historically often moves in the opposite direction to the gold price - is seen by analysts at Deutsche Bank as representing the main risk for the gold price in the near term.

"However," they add, "the rise in oil prices, if it continues, will threaten to unravel the U.S. labor market recovery which we would view as ultimately bullish [for] gold prices."