Gold surges past $5,500 on geopolitics, Fed's policy decision

Gold prices continued to hit record highs on Thursday, exceeding the $5,500 level and nearing $5,600, after the US Federal Reserve held the policy rate stable and US-Iran tensions intensified.

Spot gold rose over 2.4% day-on-day to $5,548.50 an ounce as of 0800GMT, after touching an all-time high of $5,595.44 earlier in the session. Prices gained about 13% over the week.

Gold has surged roughly 102% over the past 12 months and about 29% since the start of the year, supported by heightened trade and geopolitical tensions as well as interest rate cuts by major central banks.

Silver also advanced, rising over 1% to an all-time high of $120.43 an ounce. Silver prices have jumped more than 283% over the past year.

Tensions between the US and Iran have been ramping up as President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday that a "massive armada" was moving toward Iran, warning Tehran to reach an agreement or face a "much worse attack."

Trump said the fleet, led by the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, was larger than the one previously deployed to Venezuela and was "prepared to rapidly fulfil its missions with speed and violence if necessary."

Meanwhile, the Fed held the policy rate unchanged at the target range between 3.5% and 3.75% on Wednesday, saying that economic activity has been expanding at a "solid" pace.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during a press conference after the decision that the central bank would consider reducing the policy rate after prices declined.

Powell said he expects to see "the effects of tariffs flowing through goods prices peaking and then starting to come down, assuming there are no new major tariff increases that are begun."

"And that's what we expect to see over the course of this year. If we see that, that would be something that tells us that we can loosen policy," he added.