Gold hits 8-month high as Ukraine-Russia conflict escalates

Feb 17 (Reuters) – Gold touched an eight-month high on Thursday, after Russian news reports of a mortar fire in eastern Ukraine boosted demand for the safe-haven metal and as less hawkish signals from U.S. Federal Reserve’s last meeting minutes underpinned bullion.

Spot gold rose 0.8% to $1,883.17 per ounce by 1153 GMT, after rising as much as 1.3% to $1,892.91, its highest since June 11. U.S. gold futures gained 0.7% to $1,885.10.

“The Ukraine crisis has given extra momentum to bullion bulls who had been gravitating towards gold as an inflation hedge, evidenced by the recent surge of inflows into bullion-backed ETFs,” Exinity analyst Han Tan said.

Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces traded accusations on Thursday that each had fired across the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine, raising alarm at a time when Western countries have warned of the possibility of a Russian invasion any day. read more

If Russia invades, then gold is likely to gain, but to see a sharp reversal that sends gold markedly lower would likely require Russian troops to actually be seen leaving the border, said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.

Minutes of the latest policy meeting on Wednesday showed that while policymakers agreed that it would “soon be appropriate” to raise the Fed’s benchmark overnight interest rate from its near-zero level, they would re-asses the rate hike timeline at each meeting. read more

“The latest FOMC minutes did not offer fresh hawkish clues, easing real yields back further into negative territory which in turn allowed spot gold to push on towards the psychologically-important $1,900 level,” Exinity’s Tan added.

Higher interest rates tend to increase the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-paying gold.

Palladium jumped 1.7% to $2,317.60.

Caught in gold’s slipstream, spot silver gained 0.2% at $23.58, platinum jumped 1.2% to $1,074.52, hitting a three-month high earlier.

Reporting by Asha Sistla, Seher Dareen and Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Amy Caren Daniel

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