Reuters :The euro itself took heart from the ECB's efforts, rallying 0.4 percent against the dollar, but held near record lows against the safe-haven Swiss franc.
Global equities were down by over 1.0 percent, having fallen by 14.5 percent so far in August and set for their worst monthly performance since late 2008.
"The stock market is plummeting, that is pretty much the only story out there. Bond yields are down and obviously there is the flight-to-safety argument," said RBS analyst Daniel Major.
Gold's upward progress has attracted some profit-taking from investors who have scrambled to plug holes in their portfolio from the rout across the stock markets.
Top asset manager BlackRock will use profits it is making in gold and bond markets to seek out bargains in falling global equity markets, James Holt, investment strategist at the world's largest money manager, said on Tuesday.
However, analysts said that the current push into gold appeared to be fairly solid.
"... the ingredients are all in place for a stronger gold price, as the metal is not subject to the risk of intervention or quantitative easing," said UBS strategist Edel Tully in a note.
"This doesn't mean that pullbacks won't occur, and though some of these may be severe, we believe dips will be bought. Comex net longs may be at record levels, but current gold buying is very broad-based, with a strong physical bias which provides much support," she added.
In other precious metals, silver fell 1.4 percent on the day to $38.51 an ounce, pushing the gold/silver ratio to 46.0, a six-month high in the outperformance of gold versus silver.
Platinum rose 1.4 percent to $1,735.99 an ounce, while palladium rose 2.6 percent to $733.00.
Of vital importance to markets later in the day will be the outcome of the meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy-setting committee, which many hope will signal its intention to support the economy and restore some stability to markets.