Gold is dusting off its credentials as the go-to commodity in troubled times.

Bullion rallied above $1,100 an ounce, rising for a fourth day to a two-month high, after Chinese shares plunged, the yuan slid and the country’s stock exchanges closed early for the second time this week, spurring demand for a haven. Global markets are facing a crisis and investors need to be very cautious, billionaire George Soros said on Thursday.

“It’s all about China and turmoil in the global markets,” Robin Bhar, a London-based analyst at Societe Generale SA. “China devaluing the yuan has stoked fear over the weakness of the global economy and that’s good for gold.”

Gold has outperformed most other commodities since the turn of the year after posting three straight annual declines, as currency and equity-market weakness in China, coupled with rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and North Korea, boosted demand. Soros told a forum in Colombo, Sri Lanka, that China is struggling to find a new growth model and its currency devaluation is transferring problems to the rest of the world.

The current environment “reminds me of the crisis we had in 2008,” Soros said. Bullion climbed 5.8 percent that year, at the start of the global financial crisis, then rallied 24 percent in 2009 and 30 percent the following year as equities markets collapsed.

Biggest Gainer

Gold for immediate delivery rallied as much as 0.8 percent to $1,102.85 an ounce, the highest price since Nov. 6, and traded at $1,096.90 by 9:14 a.m. in London, according to Bloomberg generic pricing.

Most other commodities in the Bloomberg Commodity Index, which gauges returns from 22 raw materials, are down this year as base metals and oil tumbled, with Brent crude sinking to the lowest in 11 years.

China’s CSI 300 Index tumbled 7.2 percent on Thursday before trading was halted, while the onshore yuan weakened against the dollar to a five-year low after the central bank cut its reference rate by the most since August. China’s regulator called an unscheduled meeting on the stock market, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

“People are going to be concerned about emerging-market currencies and currencies related to China, so they’ll be looking for things like gold, the yen, and the U.S. dollar,” said Ric Spooner, a chief market strategist at CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty. “There are quite a lot of people in the market concerned about the possibility that those moves in China signify a reaction by authorities to an economy that might be weaker than many people think it is.”

Gold-mining companies received a boost from the rally in the metal. Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia’s largest producer, rose 1.1 percent, while Evolution Mining Ltd. advanced 3 percent. Miners in South Africa also benefited as a weaker local currency curbs costs. An index of those listed in Johannesburg rose as much as 6.2 percent to an eight-month high.

Other precious metals were dragged lower on concern that demand will weaken for their industrial applications. Palladium dropped 2.1 percent to $498.50 an ounce, with platinum falling 1.1 percent and silver little changed.