London: Gold jumped to a five-week high on Monday as investors piled in, seeking safety from financial uncertainty after the US unveiled a $300 billion (Dh1.1 trillion) rescue package for banking giant Citigroup.
Autocatalyst precious metals platinum and palladium, tracking gold, rose 5 per cent and industrial metal silver gained about 4.5 per cent.
Spot gold rose nearly three per cent to $822.15 an ounce, its highest since October 16 and was at $818.95/$819.95 at 1230 GMT from $799.45 an ounce on Friday when the precious metal posted its biggest daily percentage gain in two months.
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The US government has agreed to inject $20 billion of new capital into Citigroup, one of the world's biggest banks, to avoid a collapse that would have wreaked further damage to the world's financial system.
"The Citigroup news can be read in two ways. One is relief because the bank was teetering on the brink, and that will be reflected in higher equity valuations," said Robin Bhar, an analyst at Calyon.
