Gold surged to a record near $1,590 an ounce on Wednesday as the possibility of more Federal Reserve stimulus coupled with Europe's deepening debt crisis fuelled bullion's longest winning streak in five years. Bullion's gains accelerated after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed is ready to ease monetary policy further if economic growth and inflation slow much more. Silver rallied nearly 6 percent, moving in tandem with commodities, US stock markets and risk assets.
Spot gold rose 0.9 percent to $1,578.89 an ounce as of 3:20 pm EDT (1920 GMT). US August futures settled up $23.20 at $1,585.50 an ounce, after trading between $1,564.60 and $1,588.90. Spot silver was last up 5.3 percent at $37.96 an ounce, its largest one-day gain in more than two months. Platinum rose 1.5 percent to $1,755.74 an ounce, and palladium gained 2.2 percent to $778.97 an ounce.