Gold climbed to a new high on Tuesday while silver also rallied as investors went long on metals amid US election uncertainty and Wall Street's expectations of lower interest rates.

Gold futures (GC=F) rose as much as 0.8% to hover near highs of $2,770 per ounce while spot gold inched to a record just north of $2,759. Silver futures (SI=F) gained more than 1% to top $34 per ounce, levels not seen in over a decade.

"It's very clear that they've [gold and silver] experienced a high degree of momentum in recent weeks and months," Chris Vecchio, global co-head of macro at trading platform Tastylive, told Yahoo Finance.

"We are really in the early innings still of a multiyear shift towards precious metals," he added.

Investors are betting on precious metals amid expectations of continued lower interest rates from the Federal Reserve and other central banks. High-interest-yielding assets like bonds become less attractive in a lower interest rate environment.

Additionally, precious metals are generally thought of as a hedge against inflation. While inflation in the US has come down recently toward the Fed's 2% target, a number of upward pressures on prices — ranging from the possibility of more tariffs to efforts to reshore manufacturing — remain in the long run.

"That ultimately means higher structural inflation [and] less productivity moving forward. And so on a per dollar basis, everything's going to cost a bit more," Vecchio said.

Central bank purchases of gold have driven up prices by 28% year to date as geopolitical tensions have kept investors focused on the precious metal as a safe haven asset.

Silver, which is also used for industrial purposes, is up 37% during the same period.

Goldman Sachs analysts recently said the purchases of gold by central banks will remain "structurally elevated."

The analysts have a price target on the precious metal of $2,900 per troy ounce for early 2025.

Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.

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