Gold pushed further into record territory Friday amid worries about the state of the U.S. economy and European debt troubles.

Investors are clearly skeptical of risk still, and the soaring price of gold illustrates that the global economic recovery remains tenuous.

"That means, people still don't think the world economy is out of the woods yet," BNN's Andrew Bell told CTV News Channel.

He said gold is rising mostly on European worries about the Spanish economy and the long-term prospects for the Euro dollar.

In troubled economic times investors typically flock to gold, which is generally considered a relatively safe investment.

The TSX global gold index rose 1.1 per cent Friday morning, pushing bullion prices up $8.70 from Thursday's record high close of US$1,257.40 an ounce.

The price of gold helped push the Toronto stock market up Friday morning.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 35 points to 11,981 in early morning trading.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.24 of a cent to 97.61 cents US.