* North Korea tensions stoke safe-haven demand for gold
* Silver touches highest since mid-June
* Platinum at highest price since April (Updates prices; adds comment, second byline, NEW YORK dateline)
By Marcy Nicholson and Eric Onstad
NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The price of gold rose on Thursday for the third straight day, reaching a two-month high as another exchange of threats by the United States and North Korea prompted investors to buy bullion as a safe-haven asset.
North Korea said it was completing plans to fire four intermediate-range missiles over Japan to land near the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam. around the world fell sharply, and investors moved into safer assets. MKTS/GLOB
"For now, the uptrend is very much intact in gold, reacting to external geopolitical events," said commodities analyst Jonathan Butler of Mitsubishi in London.
The spot gold price XAU= had gained 0.6 percent at $1,284.71 an ounce by 1:57 p.m. EDT (1757 GMT) after reaching its highest level since June 8 at $1,287.73. It rose 1.3 percent in the previous session, the biggest increase since mid-May.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for December delivery settled up 0.8 percent at $1,290.10.
"The war of words between the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea continue to dominate investor sentiment," said Forex.com technical analyst Fawad Razaqzada.
"Gold and silver are higher, thanks mainly to their status as safe-haven commodities."
Another source of support to bullion was data showing U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fell in July, pointing to a further moderation in inflation that could delay a Federal Reserve interest rate increase. U.S. inflation readings should rise, even while it takes longer for the annual measures preferred by the Fed to rebound, New York Fed President William Dudley said. market was waiting for U.S. consumer inflation data on Friday that would offer more clues about future Fed decisions.
UBS said in a note it had increased its long position in gold as forward real interest rates declined and commodity prices increased, while it also added to longs in the platinum group metals as investment demand rose.
Physical gold demand, however, was sluggish in India, while the rally in global prices dampened buying elsewhere in Asia and holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange-traded-fund GLD were unchanged on Wednesday. least in this segment, investors apparently remain reluctant to seek gold's safe haven," Norbert Rücker, head of macro and commodity research at Julius Baer, said in a note.
Silver XAG= was up 1.1 percent at $17.08 an ounce after breaching its 200-day moving average and hitting $17.24, its highest since June 14.
Platinum XPT= gained 0.8 percent to $979.85 per ounce after touching $983.60, the highest since April 18.
Palladium XPD= climbed 1 percent to $900.30.