LONDON--Gold hit a fresh record high on Thursday as the dollar struggled, while emerging market stocks climbed to their highest level this year.
European shares opened more than 1% higher ahead of interest rate decisions from the Bank of England and European Central Bank.
Neither was expected to change rates.
Market sentiment was also given a boost after aluminium giant Alcoa posted a surprise profit on Wednesday after three consecutive quarterly losses.
The company is the first major report in the U.S. third-quarter earnings season.
Spot gold topped $1,058 per ounce to mark a record high for the third session in a row. 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 0.7% against a basket of major currencies, close to its year lows.
The currency has been hit by a combination of expectations that U.S. 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 0.6% at $1.4773 and the dollar lost a third of a percent to 88.32 yen.
The Australian dollar gained 1.4%, still benefiting from this week's rate hike. It has now gained nearly 28% against the U.S. dollar this year.
