Gold set for best month since May as appeal surges on Ukraine crisis

Gold last traded at $1,942 an ounce. Silver at $25.44 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices extended gains Tuesday on safe-haven buying despite a firmer dollar. U.S. stocks fell sharply as bank stocks slid and oil prices jumped to 7-year high.

 CNBC--"Gold prices rose more than 1% on Monday and were set for their best monthly gain in nine, after Western countries slapped fresh sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin put his country's nuclear deterrent on high alert.

The metal rose as much as 2.2% earlier in the session, to hover close to its September 2020 peak. It has gained about 6.3% this month.

Gold is often used as a hedge against inflation and as a means of preserving wealth during times of financial and political uncertainty.

The United States said Putin was escalating the war with 'dangerous rhetoric', amid signs that the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two was not producing rapid victories, but instead generating a far-reaching and concerted Western response.

In their strongest economic sanctions yet, the United States and Europe said on Saturday they would banish big Russian banks from the main global payments system SWIFT and announced other measures to limit Moscow's use of a $630 billion war chest....

Russia's central bank on Sunday said it would resume buying gold on the domestic market from Feb. 28, as it undertakes measures to try and ensure financial stability during Western sanctions against Moscow."