Spot gold stood at $1,077.15 per ounce at 1645 GMT, up 1.7 per cent from $1,059.15 quoted late in New York on Monday. Earlier, gold hit a historic high of $1,080.60.

U.S. gold futures also hit a record $1,081.70 an ounce.

The IMF said on Monday it had sold 200 tons of gold to India for $6.7-billion. Although an IMF gold sale had been flagged for some time, it lifted some uncertainty from the market by helping soak up potential supply.

“The market is managing to decouple from the dollar on the news from the IMF - which begs the question: they've sold half of the 400 tons they have in this off-market transaction, will be they able to sell the balance to other central banks?” said Robin Bhar, metals analyst at Calyon.