Gold touched an eight-month high on Thursday, after Russian news reports of a mortar fire in eastern Ukraine boosted demand for the safe-haven metal and as less hawkish signals from U.S. Federal Reserve’s last meeting minutes underpinned bullion.
Spot gold rose 1.5% to $1,897.21 per ounce. U.S. gold futures gained 1.6% to settle at $1,902 per ounce, reaching its highest level since mid-June.
“The Ukraine crisis has given extra momentum to bullion bulls who had been gravitating towards gold as an inflation hedge, evidenced by the recent surge of inflows into bullion-backed ETFs,” Exinity analyst Han Tan said.
