Wall Street looked set for a buoyant start and European shares were around 1 percent higher, essentially unmoved by the Bank of England and European Central Bank both keeping interest rates unchanged.
Market sentiment was also boosted by aluminum giant Alcoa's posting of a surprise profit on Wednesday after three consecutive quarterly losses. The company was the first major report in the US third-quarter earnings season which will go a long way to deciding the fate of a sharp equity rally dating back to March.
Spot gold topped $1,058 per ounce to mark a record high for the third session in a row, before dropping back to around $1,053. It has primarily been driven higher by the weakening dollar, which makes the dollar-denominated metal more attractive to investors.
In some currencies -- the high-flying Australian dollar, for example -- gold has actually fallen in price this year. "Investors are turning towards gold as a hedge in dollar weakness," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore. The dollar was down 0.6 percent against a basket of major currencies, close to its year lows.
The currency has been hit by a combination of expectations that US interest rates will stay low for some time and a belief that the global economy is on the mend, easing the motivation behind last year's flight to dollar safety. The euro was up 0.5 percent at $1.4752 and the dollar lost a quarter of a percent to 88.32 yen.
The Australian dollar gained 1.4 percent, still benefiting from this week's rate hike. It has now gained nearly 28 percent against the US dollar this year.
