It was quoted at $426.30/6.80 per ounce, against the late US level of $427.10/7.80. "The fact that gold broke through $428 is very important," said Akira Doi, director at Daiichi Commodities Co Ltd.
"Gold could come under more pressure ahead of a long weekend in the United States amid at correcting recent gains, but we want to see if it can hold around $428 in the next few days."
US markets will be closed on Monday for President's Day holiday.
Traders said the market could test a key technical point around $430, the 100-day moving average. Funds have been reshuffling part of their portfolios as closely watched congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan this week offered few surprises.
Precious metals prices had advanced as the dollar posted losses of a half a cent versus the euro over Greenspan's two days of testimony, despite his hints that US interest rates will continue to go up, seen as dollar-positive.
"Currencies are the key driving factor in the precious metals market now, with funds shifting back to gold as the dollar is under pressure against the euro," said a senior trader at a Japanese trading house.
The euro was quoted at $1.3070/74, little changed from late New York levels. It traded around $1.2730 just a week ago. "We've seen a lot of funds cutting positions in gold in the past few weeks, but it looks that they are rebuilding their positions again," Daiichi's Doi said.
In Tokyo, the benchmark December gold futures contract hit a fresh 1 1/2-month high of 1,451 yen per gram. Tokyo traders said the market was keen to test the contract towards its 100-day moving average of around 1,457 yen.
Spot silver advanced further as speculators continued to show interest after its rise of more than 12 percent in just a week.
"Relatively large sales by Japan had pressured silver around highs in the past two days, but speculators were convinced about sentiment for silver as the falls were limited," said the trading house trader.
Silver was quoted at $7.34/$7.36 an ounce from $7.32/$7.35 in New York. Platinum was quoted at $859/$864 an ounce, compared with $862/$867 in New York and palladium at $180/$185 an ounce from $179/$183.