By Niam Seet Wei

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives finished higher today amid the backdrop of struggling global stock markets and rising tensions between Western powers and Saudi Arabia.

Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd Dealer Tee Guy Eon said the uncertain equity markets and geopolitical tensions had prompted investors to seek for safe-haven assets like gold.

"The bullish performance of the local gold market also borrowed strength from the benchmark New York Commodity Exchange gold market, which rose to its highest level in two-and-a-half-months on Monday," he told Bernama.

Tee believed that at this juncture, traders would continue to monitor the developments on Italy’s debt, as well as the US' relations with China and Saudi Arabia for better investment ideas.

At the close, October 2018 and November 2018 rose 14 ticks each to RM164.40 a gramme, respectively, December 2018 jumped 20 ticks to RM165.00 a gramme and January 2019 was 21 ticks higher at RM165.10 a gramme.

Turnover surged to 22 lots worth RM363,430 from one lot worth RM16,370 on Monday, while open interest increased to 42 contracts from 22 contracts previously.

At 5 pm, the price of physical gold, however, declined 31 sen to RM158.64 a gramme from Monday's RM158.95 a gramme. 

-- BERNAMA