Gold posted a breakout session Tuesday as investors took risk positions off the table as geopolitical tensions rose.
Futures on the precious metal jumped 1.6 percent during the regular session, bringing their year-to-date gain to above 10 percent. The metal kept going higher in after-hours trading with the futures reaching an intraday high of 1,277.40, which was their highest level since Nov. 10.
Gold futures also surpassed their average price of the last 200 days, a common measure used by technical analysts to determine a trend.
Gold 1-year, with 200-day moving average
Investors have a lot to worry about: Last Thursday, the U.S. launched an airstrike on targets in Syria as a direct response to a recent alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government. The attack, meant to dissuade further use of the weapons, have chilled relations with the Russian government, an Assad ally.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is currently in Moscow to try and negotiate a path to ending the Syrian war.
Early Tuesday, Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed the U.S. is preparing strikes on the Damascus region with the aim of blaming the Syrian government. Putin, showing no proof, said the U.S. was planning to "plant some substance and accuse the Syrian authorities of using (chemical weapons)."
President Xi Jinping of China was a guest at Trump's Mar-a-lago estate during the airstrike on Syria, in a visit meant to smooth over relations in the wake of South Korea's decision to deploy a THAAD missile battery.
The battery is meant to deter threats from an increasingly belligerent North Korea, although China is concerned the system will penetrate its own defenses. On Tuesday, North Korean state media warned of a nuclear attack on the United States if provoked, and last Wednesday fired another ballistic missile into the sea following two earlier tests in March.
In an early morning tweet, President Trump hinted at a willingness to use trade to coax China into reining in North Korea:
The U.S. has recently diverted a Navy strike group to the Pacific near the Korean peninsula, which will arrive later this week.
Investors also clamored into gold stocks. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF was most recently up 3 percent, on pace for its best daily performance since March 15, when it gained 7.69 percent.
Watch: More upside for gold