LONDON, England - March 23, 2011 - Gold rose to within a whisker of its all-time high Wednesday, as record low U.S. new home sales stirred talk of extended central banks’ accommodative policies, and a possible collapse of Portugal’s government rekindled euro zone debt worries.

Bullion rose 0.6% to just short of its record $1,444.40 an ounce set on March 7, rebounding over 4% in the last eight sessions amid safe-haven buying and ongoing western air strikes on Libya.

Political unrest in other Arab countries also underpinned gold as Yemen’s president offered to step down by year end to appease mounting demands for his resignation.

Gold accelerated gains to hit a session high of $1,440.90, its highest since March 7, after data showed the U.S. housing market slide was deepening as new home prices fell to their weakest since 2003.