CHICAGO, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange extended gains on Thursday amid rising safe-haven appeal.
The most active gold contract for August delivery went up 6.90 U.S. dollars, or 0.52 percent, to close at 1,343.70 dollars per ounce.
Earlier Thursday, two oil tankers were reportedly hit in the Sea of Oman off the coast of Iran. At least one of them was operated by a Japanese company. The incidents came during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Tehran, who has sought to help ease tensions between Iran and the United States.
It's not clear who was responsible for the suspected attacks. Yet the geopolitical tensions boosted demand for safe-haven assets, such as gold.
Meanwhile, the prolonged U.S.-China trade frictions also lured investors to gold, said analysts.
However, the modestly rising Wall Street stock benchmarks and a firm U.S. dollar limited the rise of gold.
As for other precious metals, silver for July delivery was up 13.9 cents, or 0.94 percent to close at 14.892 dollars per ounce. Platinum for July delivery was down 1.10 dollar, or 0.14 percent, to settle at 809.40 dollars per ounce. Enditem