Updated at 5:16 p.m. ET

Kitco reports that the price of gold Wednesday evening had fallen back below $1,300. 

As of 5:16 p.m. ET the price of gold stood at $1,278.20 per ounce. As you'll read in the original post below, that figure is actually down slightly from Monday's close. 

Here's more on the price normalization from Kitco's Gary Wagner.

Original post:

In the wake of the unexpected election of President-elect Donald Trump, gold has hit a six-week high and surpassed the $1,300 mark Wednesday morning, according to Kitco.

As of 9:28 a.m. ET Wednesday morning, the price of gold stood at $1,303.40. The price had closed Monday night at $1,281.20.

The rise in the price of gold comes as financial markets around the world fell in response to the uncertainty caused by a Wednesday morning result that most had not seen coming.

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“The polls were wrong and the world marketplace was ‘wrong-footed’ as Trump won the U.S. presidential election over Hillary Clinton,” Jim Wyckoff wrote on Kitco.com Wednesday morning. “Global financial markets and gold started sensing trouble with their previous thinking when early election results starting rolling in Tuesday evening. It’s not often that the general sense of the marketplace is wrong, but it happened overnight. And those who were wondering about a repeat of the U.K. Brexit vote in June were spot on. The U.K. voted to exit the European Union despite polls showing otherwise.”

At one point in the overnight hours, the price of gold hit $1,338.30 in December futures. They have since backed down slightly.

“How long will the increased markets volatility last?”Wyckoff asks. “Likely not long. Markets are quick to factor in unexpected events and it won’t be long until they return to more normal price action, including the precious metals.”

Gold is a safe-haven asset

Why is gold on the rise Wednesday?

Gold investing has historically been viewed as a hedge against the unpredictability of the overall economy, and in turn, a safe haven when other markets experience a downturn. 

A Trump win was not expected, and as previously mentioned, the financial markets have not reacted positively to the shock. That financial downturn is naturally paired with a rise in gold buying.

Gold is valuable. That is based on the fact that we know there’s not a lot of it, and we know it is appealing to people. So while the health of someone’s investments in the stock market is subject to the performance of the companies invested in, gold is a known commodity with a value that, while it does fluctuate over time, generally does not fluctuate with the suddenness that a company’s stock can.