By Anjana Anil
(Reuters) - Gold rallied to a record on Wednesday, building on stellar momentum driven mostly by bets for U.S. monetary easing, while autocatalyst palladium popped back above the $1,000 mark for the first time since Jan. 12.
Spot gold gained 0.8% to $2,145.09 per ounce as of 2:03 p.m. ET (1903 GMT) after hitting an all-time high of $2,152.09 earlier in the session.
U.S. gold futures settled 0.8% higher at $2,158.2.
Silver added 1.9% to $24.15.
Gold got an additional fillip as the dollar fell after Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated a rate cut later this year. [USD/] [US/]
"Gold is likely to push higher as bullish sentiment remains dominant. However, bullion may take a little time to digest Powell's overall comments as well as see Friday's employment report," said Tai Wong, a New York-based independent metals trader.
Gold suffers when high U.S. interest rates raise returns on competing assets such as bonds and boost the dollar, making the bullion costlier for overseas buyers.,
"There's definitely been macro data that's pushed us in this direction and the follow on to policy expectations from the Fed... but the response in the gold market has been multiples of what long-term fair value models suggest," said Michael Hsueh, FX & Commodities Strategy analyst at Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn).
Traders now see a 70% chance for a June Fed rate cut.
"CTAs are now firing long on all cylinders in gold, with funds holding roughly 80% of their historic max long position," Ryan McKay, senior commodity strategist at TD (TSX:TD) Securities wrote.
London's gold price benchmark hit an all-time high of $2,142.85 per troy ounce at an afternoon auction, the London Bullion Market Association said.
Meanwhile, platinum rose about 3% to $906.70 per ounce, while palladium rose nearly 10% to $1,035.83 .
Palladium seems to have attracted another round of "big buying" from funds, with some of it very technical, said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities.
Waning appetite for EVs might also be a lifeline, Melek added.