Wednesday in Singapore, the precious metal advanced within sight of a 2-month high hit Tuesday, as global equities plummeted and the euro slipped on renewed worries about the health of the global economy.

Spot gold added $3.85 to $1,256.95 by 3:56 GMT after rising as high as $1,259.80 on Tuesday, its strongest since June 28, with investors rattled by a Wall Street Journal report that said "stress tests" published more than a month ago underestimated some lenders' holdings of potentially risky government debt.

Bullion, which is a few dollars away from a lifetime high of around $1,264 an ounce struck in June, is on track for its tenth annual gain, its longest run of yearly increases in more than 40 years.

Asian equities dropped and the euro was on the defensive after renewed fears about the euro zone banking system drove it to life lows against the Swiss franc and Australian dollar, hitting financial stocks and dragging equity markets in Europe and the US lower.

US gold futures for December delivery were barely changed at $1,258.4 an ounce, having hit a high of $1,261.60 on Tuesday.

The SPDR Gold Trust reported its holdings to remain unchanged at 1,294.442 tonnes, suggesting that investors held on to bullion because of the economic uncertainty.

In other metals, silver was steady after rallying to its highest since March 2008 at $20 an ounce on Tuesday. Platinum and palladium weakened due to weakness in equities.

The other precious metals were quoted at about 3:56 GMT as much as:

Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1256.95 3.85 +0.31 14.72
Spot Silver 19.88 0.05 +0.25 18.12
Spot Platinum 1548.00 -5.03 -0.32 5.52
Spot Palladium 519.50 -1.35 -0.26 28.11
TOCOM Gold 3381.00 -5.00 -0.15 3.74 25053
TOCOM Platinum 4182.00 -63.00 -1.48 -4.54 12674
TOCOM Silver 53.60 -0.40 -0.74 3.68 327
TOCOM Palladium 1398.00 -37.00 -2.58 20.00 286

TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices are in $ per ounce.