Investing.com - Gold prices jumped more than 1% to fresh six-year highs on Wednesday as three central banks undertook more policy easing in the face of weakening global growth.
Spot gold gained $17.71, or 1.2%, to $1,492.26 by 8:29 AM ET (12:29 GMT), its highest level since April 2013.
Gold futures for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, rose $20.25, or 1.4%, to $1,504.45 a troy ounce. That was the first time the front-month gold contract topped $1,500 in six years.
The fact that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut its interest rate by a full half-percentage point to a record low of 1% and signaled that further reductions could be necessary, shocked markets that had priced just a 25 basis point cut.
Although the Reserve Bank of India was widely expected to cut its own interest rate for the fourth straight time this year, it ended up doing so by a larger-than-expected 35 basis points.
Adding to the string of dovish moves, Thailand’s central bank also cut by 25 basis points in an unexpected move.
“Gold is doing very well out of all of this, climbing on the back of a softer dollar, risk aversion and just a broader beneficial environment, from a monetary policy perspective,” Craig Erlam, market analyst at Oanda, said in a note.
Global policy easing has been driving yields lower, lowering the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury fell below 1.7% for the first time since 2016, while the German bund saw its yield plunge to record lows in negative territory.
At the same time, the recent escalation in trade tensions between the U.S. and China supported demand for the safe-haven precious metal that analysts speculated could strengthen the rally.
After U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to add more tariffs to Chinese goods last week, Beijing ordered a halt to the import of U.S. agricultural products.
The People’s Bank of China also allowed the yuan to fall below the psychological-level of 7 per dollar, sparking an accusation from Washington that the country was a currency manipulator.
“With the trade war of the century not appearing to end anytime soon as the Trump administration thinks of new ways to outsmart Beijing for the devaluation of the yuan, gold futures could seek a perch in the $1,800 territory after crossing the $1,500 barrier for the first time in six years,” Investing.com senior commodity analyst Barani Krishnan said in a note.
In other metals trading, silver futures jumped 2.9% to $16.913 a troy ounce by 8:32 AM ET (12:32 GMT).
Palladium futures fell 1.7% to $1,412.70 an ounce, while sister metal platinum advanced 0.2% to $855.20.
In base metals, copper was little changed at $2.558 a pound.