By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was up on Thursday morning in Asia, hitting a near nine-month high earlier in the week. Investors turned towards safe-haven assets after Ukraine declared a state of emergency and Russia sent troops into eastern Ukraine.

Gold futures were up 0.66% to $1,671.75 by 12:03 AM ET (5:03 AM GMT). They hit their highest level since Jun. 1, 2021, or $1,913.89, on Tuesday.

Separatists in Ukraine’s Donbass (Donbas) requested Russian help in repelling "aggression" on Wednesday. Ukraine responded by announcing compulsory military service and a state of emergency.

The West in turn responded by slapping sanctions on Russia. The U.S. joined German sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline linking Germany and Russia.

The Russian rouble tumbled more than 3% after the European Union blacklisted Russian lawmakers by freezing their assets and banning travel. Global shares fell after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light to a military operation in eastern Ukraine earlier in the day.

In Asia Pacific, the Bank of Korea kept its interest rate unchanged at 1.25% as it handed down its policy decision earlier in the day.

In other precious metals, palladium was little changed at $2,483.51, remaining near a near six-month high hit on Wednesday.

Russia is the third-largest producer of gold globally and Nornickel is also a major producer of both palladium and platinum. Russia produced 2.6 million troy ounces of palladium in 2021 or 40% of global mine production. It also produced 641,000 ounces of platinum or about 10% of total mine production.

Silver and platinum inched up 0.1%.

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