* Silver touches over 1-1/2 year high
* SPDR Gold holdings up 0.9% on Monday
* Gold must hold above $1,500/oz to continue bullishwave-analyst
* Spot gold may test resistance at $1,524/oz-techs(Updates prices)
By Harshith Aranya
Aug 13 (Reuters) - Gold prices scaled their highest in morethan six years on Tuesday, as concerns around protests in HongKong and an Argentine currency crash amid fears of globaleconomic slowdown, prompted investors to move away from riskierassets.
Spot gold rose 0.7% to $1,521.98 per ounce as of 0715GMT, its highest since April 2013.
U.S. gold futures rose 1% to $1,533 an ounce.
"It is a pretty straight forward case of risk aversion.Crisis in Argentina and political deterioration in Hong Kong;underlying all of this, global growth is slowing," said IlyaSpivak, senior currency strategist with DailyFx.
"Central banks can only do so much because a lot of them areat near record low interest rates. There is not a lot ofammunition to deploy as counter measures to the slowdown inglobal growth."
Protesters managed to shut down Hong Kong's airport, theworld's busiest cargo airport, on Monday. The protests, whichstarted as opposition to an extradition bill to mainland China,have expanded into wider calls for democracy.
On the other side of the globe, fears of a possible returnto interventionist policies gripped the Argentine market aftermarket-friendly President Mauricio Macri lost by a muchbigger-than-expected margin in presidential primaries.
These uncertainties alongside fears of a drawn out Sino-U.S.trade war rattled financial markets, spurring investors tosafe-haven assets.
Bullion, along with the Japanese yen and U.S. Treasuries, isseen as a relatively safe investment in times of political andfinancial uncertainty. The yen stood near a seven-month highagainst the dollar.
Investors are focused on the Federal Reserve's annualsymposium next week. Traders see a 74% chance of a 25basis-point rate cut by the Fed this September.
Lower interest rates decrease the opportunity cost ofholding non-yielding bullion and weigh on the dollar, makinggold cheaper for investors holding other currencies.
"Heightened geopolitical risks from Hong Kong protestsalong with global growth concerns remain largely supportivetowards safe haven flows," brokerage Phillip Futures said in anote.
"Gold prices must hold above $1,500 for an extension of thebullish wave in the current term."
Reflecting increased investor interest in gold, holdings ofSPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backedexchange-traded fund, jumped 0.9% to 847.77 tonnes on Mondayfrom Friday.
Spot gold may test a resistance at $1,524 per ounce, abreak above which could lead to a gain to $1,546, said Reuterstechnical analyst Wang Tao.
Among other precious metals, silver climbed 1.8% to$17.36 per ounce. During the session, it hit its highest sinceJanuary 2018 at $17.42.
Platinum rose 1.3% to $863.83 and palladiumgained 0.7% to $1,437.98 an ounce.
(Reporting by Harshith Aranya and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru;Editing by Richard Pullin, Shounak Dasgupta and Uttaresh.V)