Gold surged to its highest in nearly eight years on Wednesday as rising coronavirus cases globally dented hopes of a rapid economic recovery and pushed investors towards safe haven assets.

Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,772.43 per ounce by 1213 GMT, having earlier hit its highest since October 2012 at $1,779.06.

US gold futures rose 0.6% to $1,791.80 per ounce.

"Everybody is worried about a second wave of the coronavirus not only in the US, but in Latin America, Brazil and Russia, so that's supporting the rally," said Jigar Trivedi, commodities analyst at Mumbai broker Anand Rathi Shares.

"People are expecting stimulus packages from central banks and higher the stimulus, better the prospects for gold."

The United States had a 25% increase in new cases of COVID-19 in the week ended June 21 compared with the previous seven days, while the death toll in Latin America has surpassed 100,000, a Reuters analysis found.

The European Union is prepared to bar travellers from the United States, the New York Times said.

The surge in coronavirus cases also weighed on global stock markets.

Global central banks have bumped up stimulus measures and kept interest rates low to ease the economic blow from the pandemic, driving a 17% rise in gold this year.

"Technicals are looking mighty bullish on the daily charts ... Solid daily close above $1,765 may encourage a move towards $1,796 and $1,800," said FXTM analyst Lukman Otunuga.

Otunuga also said: "Any signs of the world economy recovering quicker than expected is poised to boost attraction towards riskier assets at the expense of safe-havens like gold."

Indicative of investor sentiment, holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, rose 0.28% to 1,169.25 tonnes on Tuesday, its highest level since April 2013.Elsewhere, palladium fell 0.2% to $1,920.76 per ounce, platinum fell 1.6%, to $816.01 per ounce.

Silver fell 0.9% to $17.79 per ounce.