Gold price retreats after dizzying gains amid Russia-Ukraine conflict

The gold and palladium prices hit the brakes on Wednesday after soaring gains as risk assets forced a market comeback while analysts forecast another bull run for precious metals should the Ukraine crisis escalate again.

Spot gold fell 1.9% to $2,014.80 an ounce by 11:45 GMT, the end of a four-session string of gains that took it to an all-time high. US gold futures were down 1.14% at $2,020.30 an ounce.

“What we may be seeing now is a small correction after such a large move over a long period (in gold and palladium)”, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Some key stocks in stock indices rebounded as investors began to take advantage of low prices, following the recent sell-off sparked by fears over harsh Western sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine.

Crude oil prices, whose strength has fueled inflation fears and polished gold’s appeal as a hedge against rising costs, also fell on Wednesday.

Gold prices may show a technical resistance threshold at current high levels and then pull back to around $1,930 an ounce, leading to price consolidation in a range of $1,930 and $2,075 an ounce, said Michael McCarthy, chief strategy officer at Tiger Brokers in Australia.

Among other precious metals, palladium, used by automakers in catalytic converters, fell 3.7% to $3,063.19 an ounce, after hitting a record $3,440.76 on Monday on disruption fears. in supply from the main global producer, Russia.

Recent volatility in precious metals can be considered normal as commodities no longer follow fundamentals or industrial demand, Natixis analyst Bernard Dahdah said.

Spot silver, meanwhile, fell 1% to $26.13 an ounce; while platinum fell 3.5% to $1,113.43 an ounce.

With information from Reuters