REUTERS

Gold extended gains on Tuesday to hit a one-week high, as dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials boosted bets on interest rate cuts and Venezuela tensions bolstered safe-haven demand.

Spot gold was up 0.4 percent at $4,463.63 per ounce, as of 0722 GMT, after rising nearly 3 percent in the last session. Bullion hit a record high of $4,549.71 on December 26, and logged its best annual performance since 1979 last year with a jump of 64 percent.

US gold futures for February delivery rose 0.5 percent to $4,473.90.

“(Comments by Fed officials) certainly didn’t hurt but it doesn’t look like the calculus has changed all that much. We of course have a big week this week with the jobs report on Friday,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Monday inflation was slowly easing, but there was a risk the jobless rate could “pop” higher, increasing the likelihood of a rate cut.

Investors currently expect at least two rate cuts this year, while they look to the nonfarm payroll report, due on Friday, for more monetary policy cues.

Toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty on Monday to narcotics charges after US President Donald Trump’s capture of him rattled world leaders and left officials in Caracas scrambling to regroup.

“The capture of Maduro illustrated this rupture between the US and China and more broadly (the ongoing trend of) de-globalisation,” Spivak said.

Non-yielding assets tend to do well in a low-interest-rate environment and during times of geopolitical or economic uncertainty.

Spot silver gained 2.8 percent to $78.64 per ounce, after hitting an all-time high of $83.62 on December 29. Silver ended 2025 with annual gains of 147 percent, far outpacing gold, in what was its best year on record.