© Archyde.com/Michael Dalder
File image of a gold bar in a ProAurum safe deposit box in Munich, Germany.
For Bharat Gautam
Feb 25 (Archyde.com) – Gold and palladium reversed trend and fell on Friday as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered sharp swings in the precious metals complex as investors assessed the impact of the conflict.
* Spot gold was down 0.9% at $1,886.57 an ounce by 1527 GMT following trading high and low. US gold futures fell 2% to $1,888.40.
* Prices of the safe-haven metal rose more than 3% to $1,973.96 following Russia attacked Ukraine by land, sea and air on Thursday. Missiles rocked the Ukrainian capital on Friday.
* “We believe the price decline is premature, there is a risk of further escalation in the conflict and it might only be a temporary correction,” said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann.
* Palladium fell 1.7% to $2,362.01. It hit $2,711.18 on Thursday, its highest level since July last year, as investors feared possible supply disruptions from Russia, one of the metal’s top producers.
* “Palladium is the precious metal most exposed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” said Carlo Alberto De Casa, external markets analyst at Kinesis.
* With Russia being the largest producer of palladium, the likelihood of ever-tightening sanctions being imposed on the country and its companies raises the prospect of a supply shortage driving up prices, De Casa added.
* Meanwhile, spot silver fell 1% to $23.95 an ounce, and platinum fell 0.2% to $1,055.13.
(Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Swati Verma. Edited in Spanish by Javier Leira)