Gold hit a record peak close to $1,400 an ounce after the US Federal Reserve agreed to pump the world's biggest economy with fresh stimulus.
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced plans to launch a 600-billion-dollar asset-buying plan, or quantitative easing (QE), to bolster the nation's sluggish economic recovery.
That was slightly higher than market expectations for about $500 billion of additional QE funds, while the Fed also maintained its ultra-low interest rates at zero to 0.25 percent.
Under the arrangement, the central bank buys bonds from banks, thereby supplying them with cash for lending. The fresh stimulus has been dubbed QE2.
The announcement meanwhile weighed on the dollar, causing investors to invest heavily in dollar-denominated commodities, as they became cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Gold hit a record high of $1,398.25 an ounce on Friday and in its wake sister metal silver nailed a 30-year peak of $26.90 an ounce.
"Currency wars, quantitative easing and global economic uncertainty all pose risks to investors. To protect themselves, many have sought the safety of gold," said Anthony Grech, an analyst at trading firm IG Index.
"Silver has the potential to continue outperforming gold, with the metal likely to be driven by increasing industrial use and investment demand."
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold surged to 1,395.50 dollars an ounce at the late fixing, from 1,346.77 dollars a week earlier. Silver advanced to $26.14 dollars an ounce from $23.96.