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Gold jumped to the highest level in eight months after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled that the U.S. central bank may delay further interest-rate increases should the turmoil in global markets continue.

Bullion for immediate delivery rallied as much as 1.5 percent to $1,214.64 an ounce, the highest since May 22, according to Bloomberg generic generic pricing. The metal, which traded at $1,207.05 at 10:36 a.m. in Singapore, is set for a ninth gain in 10 days and is the year’s best performing commodity.

Gold has surged 14 percent this year as the turmoil sweeping across financial markets stoked demand for haven assets. Yellen said Wednesday the turbulence had tightened financial conditions by pushing down stock prices, supporting the dollar and raising some borrowing costs. A Bloomberg gauge of the greenback has fallen 1.3 percent in 2016 after gaining for three years.

Yellen’s “more cautious tone and emphasis on a more elevated global risk profile, with particular focus on China, suggests the future path of interest-rate hikes will remain very much a gradual one,” said Mark Keenan, head of commodities research for Asia at Societe Generale SA in Singapore. “Gold’s move higher was intuitive and well-supported by physical inflows” into exchange-traded products.

Futures traders, who at the end of last year predicted a more than 50 percent chance of a rate rise in March, now see less than 30 percent odds borrowing costs will increase this year.

"Yellen made it clear that while the Fed still expects to continue on its gradual tightening path, policy was not on a pre-set course and would respond appropriately to developments," ANZ analysts said in a note, adding that gold prices will likely get some support from the dovish Fed outlook

Gold consumers in China and India will probably buy more jewelry, bars and coins this year as stock volatility and growth concerns boost the appeal of bullion as a store of value, according to the World Gold Council.

“Global stock markets are in a bit of turmoil, so that makes gold a very good wealth-preservation tool,” P.R. Somasundaram, managing director for India, said by phone from Mumbai on Wednesday before the council issued its quarterly report on global trends. “We’re seeing that happening as people in China and India are buying bars and coins.”

For demand, “all the factors are far more positive than 2015,” Somasundaram said. Consumption in India last year was influenced by “unseasonal rains and a weak monsoon,” while investment demand continues to grow in China, he said.

Demand for bars and coins in China, the largest single market, jumped 25 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, and was up 21 percent for the year with currency weakness a key driver, the council said in its report. Banks and retailers are confident physical demand will remain healthy, it said.

Total consumer demand was 984.5 metric tons in China last year and 848.9 tons in India, according to council data. Net bullion imports by India fell 16 percent to 233.9 tons in the fourth quarter from a year earlier and were 897.5 tons for the whole of 2015, the data show.

Reference: Reuters, Bloomberg