MANILA/BENGALURU (REUTERS) - Gold jumped nearly 4 per cent on Wednesday (Nov 9) to its strongest in more than five weeks as investors sought safe havens with Republican Donald Trump leading Democrat Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.
It marked gold's biggest single-day gain since June when it rose as much as 8 per cent when Britain decided to leave the European Union.
Trump won the key battleground state of Ohio and led Clinton in a series of other states that were too close to call, including Florida and North Carolina.
Trump is leading Clinton by 36 Electoral College votes, as of 10:35pm Eastern Standard Time (0335 GMT on Wednesday), according to media reports.
Spot gold rose as far as US$1,323.10, its strongest since Sept. 30, and was trading up 3.2 per cent at US$1,315.84 by 0341 GMT.
If Trump wins "there's more uncertainty in his platform and the direction that his policy may aim, so there may be more volatility with risk assets and over the short-term you may have investors flock to gold," said Mark Watkins, regional investment manager with The Private Client Group of US Bank.
The US dollar sank and stock markets slammed into reverse in wild trade as investors faced the real possibility of a shock win by Trump that could upend the global political order. Sovereign bonds shot higher while the Mexican peso went into near freefall.
US gold for December delivery was last up 3.3 per cent at US$1,317.30 an ounce, after earlier hitting US$1,324.30.
Spot silver rose as far as US$18.84 an ounce and was last up 1.9 per cent at US$18.69.
US rates futures imply traders now see only 36 per cent chance of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates next month, which should support further gains in gold.
"The market turbulence that a Trump victory looks likely to bring will deter the Fed from hiking next month," said Craig Erlam, analyst at Oanda.
"Given that markets have strongly priced in a hike, I think we would see a significant repricing over the coming days, with odds falling dramatically from above 80 per cent where it stood yesterday."
