Gold futures climbed on Wednesday, amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which lifted values to the highest finish in more than a year.
Bullion has been enjoying an upswing amid intensifying tensions between Moscow and the West over troop deployments into Donbas regions of Ukraine and growing fears of a full-scale invasion of Kyiv.
“Precious metals continue to shine amid heightened geopolitical risks concerning Ukraine, a struggling global stock market and soaring inflation,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at ThinkMarkets, in a market update.
Against that backdrop, April gold
GCJ22,
GC00,
climbed by $3, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,910.40 an ounce. Prices logged the highest most-active contract settlement since Jan. 7, 2021, FactSet data show.
The Russia-Ukraine situation is still “dicey,” as a military mistake by either side could significantly escalate the conflict, said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco.com, in a daily note. “The major question on traders’ and investors’ minds is whether the uncertainty/anxiety factor has peaked, from a markets perspective.”
Wyckoff said traders tend to “factor into market prices a worst-case scenario, only to see that scenario typically not occur,” but in this particular geopolitical situation, “another major ‘shoe could drop,’ such as a full-blown Russia invasion of Ukraine, to further destabilize markets.”
Read: Russia’s move into Ukraine is boosting commodity prices — here’s what’s at stake
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve seems determined to lift interest rates aggressively, as early as next month, to combat a surge in inflation. Such monetary policy moves usually serve as a bearish factor for precious metals.
In other Comex dealings, March silver
SIH22,
tacked on 1% to $24.553 an ounce, but March copper
HGH22,
declined by 0.6% to $4.484 a pound.
April platinum
PLJ22,
rose 0.5% to $1,091.70 an ounce and March palladium
PAH22,
climbed 2.9% to $2,440.60 an ounce.
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