Gold stocks surge on Wednesday, with Harmony Gold Mining climbing 6%; AngloGold, Gold Fields rose more than 5%; Coeur up 4%; Newmont Mining up 3%.

Gold scaled a record peak of $3310/oz on Wednesday as a weaker dollar, escalating trade tension and concerns over global economic growth fuelled safe-haven demand.

"A confluence of factors such as dollar depreciation and ongoing risk aversion are working in gold's favour," KCM Trade chief market analyst Tim Waterer said.

"More tariff uncertainty, more intransigence from the U.S. administration, tariff impacting goods moving through third-party countries with likely damage to global supply chains," is supporting gold, said Nicholas Frappell, global head of institutional markets, ABC Refinery.

Gold, traditionally viewed as a safe-haven investment during times of geopolitical and economic uncertainties, hit multiple record highs this year, gaining over 25%.

"Gold will continue to be strong as long as there's uncertainty," Singapore-based dealer GoldSilver Central Managing Director Brian Lan said.

Investors now await the U.S. retail sales data, due later in the day, for economic insights and the Federal Reserve's policy trajectory.

"We believe risk-off purchases for gold are yet to pick up," ANZ said, raising the bank's year-end gold price forecast to $3,600 per ounce and six-month forecast to $3,500.