Gold heads for weekly gains as Ukraine conflict continues

On Friday, gold is set to achieve weekly gains for the third time in four weeks, as the lack of tangible progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine led to a rise in the price of the precious metal, which is considered a safe haven, despite the rise in US bond yields on the back of fears of monetary tightening measures that affected the attractiveness of the alloy.

And gold settled in spot transactions at 1958.41 dollars an ounce, hovering near the highest level in more than a week, which it reached in the previous session, up about two percent so far this week. US gold futures fell 0.2 percent to 1958.70 dollars.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Ukrainians “need to make peace” and stop Russian bombing that has forced millions to flee to countries like Poland.

The US Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs by 25 basis points on March 16, and since then the central bank’s top policymakers have signaled a tougher approach to tighten monetary policy this year to combat rising inflation.

Silver prices rose in spot transactions 0.4 percent to $ 25.60 an ounce, while platinum rose 0.6 percent to $ 1026.67, and palladium settled at $ 2525.01.