BENGALURU: Gold inched up on Tuesday and was set for its best month since November as the Israel-Hamas war sparked safe-haven flows, while focus shifted to this week’s US central bank policy meeting. Spot gold was up 0.1% to $1,997.49 per ounce at 9:25 a.m. ET (1325 GMT), having spiked as high as $2,009.29 on Friday.

US gold futures were up 0.1% to $2,006.60. Spot gold was at its lowest in seven months at $1,809.50 on Oct. 6, a day before Hamas’ attack on Israel. It is now on track for an 8% rise in October as investors bolted for safety amid the ensuing crisis.

“We still have a positive bias in gold with the continuation of safe-have demand given the Middle East war,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.

Market focus this week is also on the US Treasury’s refunding announcement and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday, followed by the US monthly jobs report Friday. Markets are widely expecting the Fed to keep rates on hold at this meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

“A stronger jobs market could potentially positively impact yields and negatively impact gold, while a weaker jobs market raises potential for a less hawkish or dovish Fed and then the pendulum would swing the other direction,” Meger added.

On the physical front, the World Gold Council (WGC) said central banks’ gold buying remained strong in third quarter of 2023, but it fell short of the third quarter 2022 record. “Fragile consumer electronics demand continued to undermine volumes of gold used in technology,” the WGC added.

Spot silver fell 0.9% to $23.11 and platinum gained 0.5% to $934.03, with both set for monthly gains. Palladium rose 0.4% to $1,132.19, but is on track for a more than 9% decline this month.