Spot gold was close to a three month high after another set of weak manufacturing data out of China.
Manufacturing in January fell to the lowest since mid-2012, while factory growth was also sluggish across the eurozone adding to doubts over the health of the global economy.
The recent surge in gold has come in spite of gains for the dollar, which hit a 12 year high against a benchmark of other currencies this week.
Commentators point out that gold has behaved exactly this way in the past three ways as the Chinese New Year has approached, only for demand to peter out quickly afterwards.
This time, buying has been more widespread says Commerzbank.
Exchange traded funds monitored by Bloomberg saw their highest inflows for a year, in January, at almost 55 tons.
Demand for coins has been strong in the US and Australia, while future have seen a sharp upswing in net long positions compared to four weeks again when shorts were at a net record-high.
An hour in to US trading, spot gold was US$8 higher at US$1,127. Silver was trading at US$14.32 and platinum was flat at US$870.
Major share moves
Randgold Resources up 53p at 5,020p
Fresnillo up 15p at 737p
Anglo American down 5p at 273p
