The prices of gold reached a near five-month peak on Friday, increasing more than one percent on safe-haven buying after the U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes against a Syrian air base controlled by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
According to a U.S. official on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump let loose military strikes against the air base in response to a deadly chemical attack in a rebel-held area.
In his biggest foreign policy crisis since assuming office in January, Trump took the toughest direct U.S. action yet in Syria’s six-year-old civil war, raising the risk of confrontation with Russia and Iran, Assad’s two primary military backers.
Spot gold gained 1.3 percent to $1,267.43 per ounce after reaching a high of $1,269.28, its highest since November 10 and was poised for a fourth week of gains in a row.
U.S. gold went up as well by 1.3 percent to 1,269.
"Clearly this raises the stakes and we expect to see gold prices continuing to push higher in the short-term, at least until there is some clarity around whether this is a one-off or develops into something more," said Daniel Hynes, an analyst from ANZ.
Stocks slipped and safe haven bonds and the Japanese yen soared in Asia on Friday after the missile strike.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback against a six major currencies, went down 0.1 percent to 100.610. The dollar also went down 0.5 percent against the perceived safe-haven Japanese yen to 110.24.
In other precious metals, spot silver went up more than 1 percent to $18.43 per ounce, after reaching over a month peak of $18.47.
Platinum gained 0.9 percent to $965.60, while palladium rose 0.9 percent to $809.90.