Gold rose Wednesday as the Federal Reserve announced it would leave interest rates unchanged at its June meeting.
Spot gold hit $1,290.41 an ounce, up 0.42 percent, after briefly falling 0.15 percent immediately after the announcement. Gold futures for August delivery spiked to $1,294.40, up $6 an ounce.
Before the announcement, gold eased from the previous session's six-week high ahead of a Federal Reserve policy decision later on Wednesday, though concerns over an upcoming vote on Britain's membership of the European Union underpinned prices.
The metal has rallied for the last five sessions as assets seen as higher risk, such as shares, saw heavy losses on the back of Brexit fears, while yields on safe-haven German Bunds fell below zero for the first time.
Gold has taken a breather, however, as dealers await the Fed meeting. The metal is highly sensitive to U.S. interest rates, increases in which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
At 1:50 p.m. ET, spot gold was up 0.02 percent at $1,285.66 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures for August delivery were up $1.10 an ounce at $1,289.10.
The Fed is expected to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and signal if it still plans to raise rates twice in 2016 amid concerns about a U.S. hiring slowdown and Britain's possible exit from the European Union.
"After the jobs data we got two weeks ago, everyone expects the Fed will not hike interest rates today," LBBW analyst Thorsten Proettel said. "What we can get from the meeting is new information about the path of interest rates."
The threat of Brexit is a more immediate driver for gold, he said. "The latest data we got from polls shows the 'Leave' group is getting more support, and nervousness is going up. That has brought the gold price to higher levels," he said.
European shares rose and sterling gained against the dollar and yen on Wednesday. The pound is recovering from a slide to two-month lows on concerns over next week's Brexit referendum.
Gold priced in sterling was down nearly 1 percent after hitting its highest in nearly three years on Tuesday.
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.27 percent to 898.67 tonnes on Tuesday, the highest since October 2013.
Appetite for gold in Asia, home to the world's biggest physical bullion markets, was muted overnight.
"Today's FOMC announcement is likely resulting in many participants taking a back seat and the metal held a narrow range accordingly," MKS said in a note.
Among other precious metals, silver futures were up 0.46 percent at $17.51 an ounce, platinum futures were up 0.1 percent at $973 an ounce and palladium futures were 0.52 percent lower at $532.95 an ounce.
