The gold price has spiked to near five-year highs as worries about escalating tensions with Russia made some investors nervous.

The gold price jumped this week in dollar terms to $1,365 after US president Donald Trump tweeted "Get ready Russia" over a potential missile attack on the Assad regime in Syria.

Mr Trump's comments made investors jittery. The Pure Gold Company, a broker, said it has seen an 83pc jump in gold buying in April, compared to average sales for January, February and March.

In times of market volatility, political instability or other crises, investors seek "uncorrelated" assets – those which tend not to move in line with share prices or other financial markets. Gold is one of these.

Gold and silver online marketplace BullionVault said that 92 kilos of gold, worth £2.8m, was traded on the platform on the day of Mr Trump's tweet – a 225pc leap on normal volumes.

However, Adrian Ash, of BullionVault, said that much of the trading was investors cashing in on the high gold price, and locking in profits. Most of the buyers were hedge funds and "other speculators", he said.