Gold prices soared yesterday, and the Midas touch extended to other safe haven investments ahead of a speech at the UN which could bring war in Iraq a step closer.
As US Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to reveal "sober and compelling proof" that Baghdad has weapons of mass destruction, oil rose, the Swiss franc hit a four-year high against the dollar and European government bond yields fell.
But the dispiriting fall in share prices showed no sign of reversing in Europe -- and Wall Street, where the Dow Jones index lost 1.2 percent on Tuesday, looked set to open lower again.
The mood was worsened by a warning from technology giant Cisco Systems that quarterly sales may fall.
"It's definitely a flight to safety," said David Thurtell, commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia after gold was fixed in London at US$385 an ounce, a six-year high and up almost US$8.50 from the previous fix.
"This morning we tried to hire a diamond-tipped drill but were told there was none available," said Ron Manners, chairman of Australian gold prospector Croesus Mining.
European bourses were soft, near six-year lows, as investors weighed the still uncertain outlook for company profits and economic recovery as well as the spectre of war.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was up a bare 0.09 percent.
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