Gold Rises as Investors Follow Talks Between Russia And Ukraine

Gold strengthened on Thursday after a sharp decline in the previous session as concerns about the Russia-Ukraine crisis persisted after the lack of progress in talks between the two sides, while also likely to affect important US inflation data.

Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,996.09 an ounce, after falling three percent on Wednesday. US gold futures rose 0.7 percent to $2,002.40.

The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met Thursday in Turkey, the highest level of contact between the two countries since the war began on Feb. 24, but made clear in simultaneous press conferences that they had made no progress.

The demand for safe assets earlier this week due to the Ukrainian crisis pushed gold prices to near the record levels recorded in August 2020.

Investors are now awaiting US consumer price index data for February, due to be released later on Thursday.

Among other precious metals, palladium was last down 0.4 percent to $2,926.54 an ounce. The metal hit a record high of $3,440.76 on Monday, driven by fears of supply disruptions from Russia, its largest producer.

And silver rose in immediate transactions 0.3 percent to $ 25.80 an ounce, while platinum rose 1.1 percent to $ 1087.32.