TOKYO- Gold hit an all-time high on Monday as tit-for-tat consulate closures in China and the United States rattled investors, boosting the allure of safe haven assets, although sentiment was mixed with tech gains supporting some Asian stocks.
Gold rose 1.0 percent to a record high of $1,920.9 per ounce, surpassing a peak touched in September 2011, as Sino-US tensions boosted the allure of safe haven assets, especially those not tied to any specific country.
The yellow metal is also helped by aggressive monetary easing adopted by many central banks around the world since the pandemic plunged the global economy into a recession.
Some investors fret such an unprecedented level of money-printing could eventually lead to inflation.
MSCI’s ex-Japan Asia-Pacific index rose 1.3 percent as Taiwan’s TSMC, Asia’s third-largest company by market capitalization, rose almost 10 percent.
The chipmaker’s gains boosted other tech stocks in the region and came after rival Intel signaled it may give up manufacturing its own components due to delays in new 7 nanometer chip technology.
