Gold traded at about $4,200-per-ounce on Wednesday, on the back of rising expectations of further U.S. rate cuts.

Renewed U.S.-China trade worries also boosted safe-haven demand.

Spot gold was up 1.1% at $4,185.59 per ounce, as of 07:04 AM WAT, after hitting a record high of $4,193.38 earlier in the session.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 1% to $4,204.30.

Investors are pricing in a near-certain chance of a 25-basis-point Fed rate cut in both October and December.

Bullion tends to do well in a low-interest-rate environment and during times of political and economic uncertainty.

Safe-haven gold has gained 59% year-to-date, driven by multiple factors, including geopolitical and economic uncertainties, expectations of U.S. rate cuts, strong central bank buying, de-dollarisation trend, and robust exchange-traded fund inflows.

Silver rose 1.9% to $52.43, after having hit a record high of $53.60 on Tuesday, tracking gold’s rally and on tightening supply in the spot market.

Elsewhere, platinum climbed 0.8% to $1,644.49 and palladium rose 0.8% to $1,537.19.

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Prices broke $4,000 for the first time last Wednesday as investors piled into the safe haven over expectations for US interest rate cuts and worries over the US government shutdown.

The rally in the precious metal also came after concerns that a tech-fuelled rally that has sent some equity markets to record highs may have gone too far, fanning talk of an asset bubble.

Traders have been piling into gold all year, pushing it up more than 50 per cent since the turn of the year, on the back of a range of issues, including global economic uncertainty, Donald Trump’s trade war, and geopolitical crises.