Gold futures close higher on safe-haven demand and heightened Russian/Ukraine tensions

Chicago (Apr 24)  Gold futures climbed on Thursday, extending gains from a day earlier to finish at their highest level in a week. "Given the deteriorating situation in Ukraine, we expect safe-haven demand to support gold and to aid price gains in the coming weeks," said Mark O'Byrne, a director at GoldCore. June gold  rose $6, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,290.60 an ounce on Comex. That was the highest settlement since April 17.

Spot silver jumped nearly 1% to $19.67, while spot palladium surged $15 to $802 - after touching morning low of $778.