Gold rose 1 percent on Tuesday on a sharply lower dollar and as renewed tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine burnished bullion's safe-haven appeal. The metal was also underpinned by official-sector buying after Iraq's central bank said it might buy more gold in the next few months, having bought 60 tonnes over the past two. Spot gold was up 1 percent at $1,308.75 an ounce by 3 pm EDT (1900 GMT), having reached a two-week high of $1,314.43 in earlier trade.
US COMEX gold futures for June delivery settled up$10.80 at $1,309.10 an ounce, with trading volume about 40 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Among other precious metals, silver rose 0.9 percent to $19.99 an ounce, while platinum was up 1.1 percent at $1,437.25 an ounce and palladium gained 1.7 percent to $774.10 an ounce.