Gold climbs in New York

Gold rose to a three-month peak on Wednesday, as political risks posed by elections in Europe and worries over US President Donald Trump's policies stoked safe haven demand. Investors are concerned about the strong showing in the French presidential race of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who has promised to take France out of the euro zone and to hold a referendum on European Union membership.
"There's underlying demand for gold as a hedge against political uncertainties on both sides of the Atlantic," said Ole Hanson, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. "Retracements have been quite shallow the past couple of weeks, especially the signal that gold wasn't going down when the dollar started going up," he added.
Spot gold rose 0.5 percent at $1,239.27 an ounce by 2:45 pm EST (1945 GMT), after rising to its highest since November 11 at $1,244.67. "This discussion over the (US) immigration ban and the court fight is leaving investors in a realm of uncertainty which is also leaving room for them to take on new gold positions or to reduce their shorts," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist for US Bank Wealth management in Seattle.
US gold futures settled up 0.3 percent at $1,239.50. Spot silver rose 0.3 percent to $17.76 an ounce, after marking its highest since November 11 at $17.87. Platinum rose 1.2 percent to $1,012.24, after touching its highest since November 9 at $1,019.20. Palladium rose 1.1 percent to $768.70.