Gold prices softened on Monday but remained within sight of a two-month high above $960 touched in the previous session, retaining their sheen in the face of a weaker dollar.
Crude oil's rise to a six-month high has also benefited gold, which is often bought both as an alternative to the dollar and as an inflation hedge.
Gold markets showed little initial reaction to a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that quoted a ruling party official as saying North Korea conducted a nuclear test on Monday.
North Korea also fired a short-range missile just hours after it said it had conducted a nuclear test, Yonhap said.
But North Korea's latest provocation, coming after what it called a peaceful satellite launch that sent a rocket over Japan earlier in the year, was not expected to have a lasting impact on investors who have become accustomed to such saber-rattling.
"By right, when we get such news, safe havens such as gold should get a bit of a boost," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Phillip Futures.
"But I guess the markets are taking the news in their stride, and perhaps we've got to see more details on the test before acting on it," he said.
Public holidays on Monday in the United States and Britain may have also accounted for the lack of market reaction, as was the fact that North Korea had warned about conducting such a test for weeks.
