By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Wednesday morning in Asia. The yellow metal held its ground after hitting a 19-month peak during the previous session, supported by safe-haven demand as the conflict in Ukraine continues and U.S. Treasury yields rise.
Gold futures rose 1.10% to $2,065.70 by 12:20 AM ET (5:20 AM GMT). They rose to $2,069.89 during the previous session, not far from the record $2,072.49 mark hit in August 2020. The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, edged down on Wednesday but remained near the more than one-and-a-half-year high hit on Monday.
Apart from U.S. and UK banning Russian oil imports which isn’t impacting gold much, “there seems to be a lack of further escalation in the tensions between Russia and Western powers,” DailyFX strategist Margaret Yang told Reuters.
“Geopolitical catalysts are the main drivers behind gold, and once the political skies are clear, I foresee gold prices plunging quickly back to the $1,800 levels.”
U.S. Treasury yields climbed, with the U.S. Federal Reserve expected to hike interest rates when it hands down its policy decision during the following week. Across the Atlantic, the European Central Bank will hand down its policy decision on Thursday.
In other precious metals, palladium jumped 3.3% to $3,284.67 per ounce, rising 38% since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Russia is a major global producer of the metal.
“Palladium could move much higher because out of all the commodities, it has the highest percentage share coming out of Russia,” ED&F Man Capital Markets analyst Edward Meir told Reuters.
“Just this week, it took out last year’s high. So, if it’s last year’s high pre-invasion, this tells me that we should be much higher post-invasion.”
Silver rose 1% to $26.66 per ounce, after hitting a near nine-month high on Tuesday. Platinum rose 1.2%.
Source : Investing.com
