Spot gold hit a record high in early Asia hours trade on Tuesday, propelled by rate cut bets, geopolitical and economic uncertainty, and central bank and ETF buying.
The yellow metal hit a record high of $4,445.69 per ounce.
Over in the foreign exchange market, the yen remained the focal point as investors weighed the odds of an imminent intervention from Japanese authorities to shore up the currency.
It was 0.3% stronger at 156.57 per dollar in early trade.
While the BOJ raised rates at the conclusion of its December policy meeting on Friday, the move was widely expected and Governor Kazuo Ueda offered few hints on the extent of future rate hikes.
“Their message is so underwhelming… you hike, but you need to hike with conviction. They didn’t hike with conviction,” said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis.
Against the euro and the Swiss franc, the yen was similarly pinned near a record low.
In other currencies, the dollar was on the back foot, with the euro up 0.12% at $1.1772, while sterling rose 0.16% to $1.3482.
