The price of gold rose on Thursday for the third straight day, reaching a two-month high as another exchange of threats by the United States and North Korea prompted investors to buy bullion as a safe-haven asset. North Korea said it was completing plans to fire four intermediate-range missiles over Japan to land near the US Pacific island territory of Guam. Stocks around the world fell sharply, and investors moved into safer assets. "For now, the uptrend is very much intact in gold, reacting to external geopolitical events," said commodities analyst Jonathan Butler of Mitsubishi in London.
The spot gold price had gained 0.6 percent at $1,284.71 an ounce by 1:57 p.m. EDT (1757 GMT) after reaching its highest level since June 8 at $1,287.73. It rose 1.3 percent in the previous session, the biggest increase since mid-May. US gold futures for December delivery settled up 0.8 percent at $1,290.10.
"The war of words between the leaders of the US and North Korea continue to dominate investor sentiment," said Forex.com technical analyst Fawad Razaqzada. Silver was up 1.1 percent at $17.08 an ounce after breaching its 200-day moving average and hitting $17.24, its highest since June 14. Platinum gained 0.8 percent to $979.85 per ounce after touching $983.60, the highest since April 18. Palladium climbed 1 percent to $900.30.