Gold was last down almost 1% on the day, but remained above $4,500 after soaring 4.4% overnight to end at $4,523, its highest close in nearly three months

Asian gold mining stocks rose sharply on Thursday as bullion held above the psychologically important $4,500 an ounce level, extending the benefit from its biggest overnight rally in nearly three months even as prices eased on profit-taking during Asian trading.

Gold was last down almost 1% on the day, but remained above $4,500 after soaring 4.4% overnight to end at $4,523, its highest close in nearly three months.

The overnight rally came after gold decisively broke above several technical barriers, including downtrend resistance near $4,430, last week’s $4,449 high and its 200-day moving average around $4,509.

The move was driven by a sharp decline in the dollar and lower long-term U.S. Treasury yields after the U.S. Treasury announced plans to at least double the size of its buyback operations for longer-dated government bonds. Treasury said operations in the 10- to 20-year and 20- to 30-year sectors would increase to at least $4 billion from a previous $2 billion maximum.

Gold also found support from growing concerns over the U.S. government’s fiscal position after national debt surpassed $40 trillion, encouraging demand for assets viewed as stores of value.

The overnight jump in bullion translated into broad gains across Asia’s gold-mining sector.

In Hong Kong, Zijin Gold International added 15.90%, while Zhaojin Mining rose 8.57%, Shandong Gold jumped 8.12%, Lingbao Gold added 8.08%, Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining rose 6.19% and Zijin Mining gained 6.42%.

Australian miners also rallied, with Ramelius Resources up 11.17%, Genesis Minerals 10.88%, Regis Resources 10.78%, Perseus Mining 10.12%, Evolution Mining 10.05% and Westgold Resources 8.65%.

Northern Star Resources added 5.92%, while Newmont advanced 7.10%. Sumitomo Metal Mining climbed 10.45% in Tokyo.

Gold also opened above the $4,500 psychological level, reinforcing the significance of the overnight breakout. The metal remained near its highest level since early June on Thursday despite the modest pullback.