Gold Edges Closer To $4,000 On US Shutdown And Tech Stock Wobble

Gold clinched a fresh record just below $4,000 an ounce as the US shutdown dragged on and a wobble in tech stocks reinforced investor appetite for other assets.

Bullion rose as high as $3,992.27 an ounce, after adding 0.6% in the previous session. December futures in New York — the most active contract — also nudged higher, after surpassing $4,000 for the first time on Tuesday.

Investors were monitoring signs that the ebullience driven by artificial intelligence may have reached excessive levels, after a report that Oracle Corp.’s cloud margins are lower than many estimate. The US shutdown has also delayed key data, muddying the outlook for the Federal Reserve’s rate-cutting path, while a political crisis in France and a change of leadership in Japan are adding to the uncertainty.

Gold has soared more than 50% this year as President Donald Trump shook up trade and geopolitics, with prices on track for the biggest annual gain since 1979. Central banks have been enthusiastic buyers, while the Fed’s rate cut last month spurred investors to pile into gold-backed exchange-traded funds — with September registering the strongest monthly inflows on record, according to the World Gold Council.

Spot gold rose 0.1% to $3,990.53 an ounce at 7:33 a.m. in Singapore. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady. Silver edged higher, after losing 1.4% in the previous session. Platinum was flat and palladium advanced.