TIMELINE-Gold bags new all-time high, continuing meteoric rise

(For related story see [ID:nT151720])

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Gold raced past it's fourth record high in a month, cresting $1,080 per ounce before easing slightly on Wednesday, with investor sentiment reflecting bullion's growing status as a destination for a diversifying official reserves.

Following are key dates tracing gold's trading history since the 1970s, and it's historic post-September 2009 rise:

* August 1971 - United States President Richard Nixon takes the dollar off the 'gold standard', which fixed paper notes value to a pre-set quantity of gold. It had been in place, with minor modifications, since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 fixed the conversion rate for one Troy ounce of gold at $35.

* August 1972 - U.S. devalues dollar to $38 per ounce of gold.

* March 1973 - Most major countries adopt floating exchange rate system.

* May - U.S. devalues dollar to $42.22 per ounce.

* January 1980 - Gold hits record high at $850 per ounce. High inflation because of strong oil prices, Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the impact of the Iranian revolution, prompts investors to move into the metal.

* August 1999 - Gold falls to a low at $251.70 on worries about central banks reducing reserves of gold bullion and mining companies selling gold in forward markets to protect against falling prices.