Gold futures ended at their lowest level in almost two weeks on Tuesday after news reports indicated tentative signs of progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine, crimping demand for traditional safe-haven assets, including precious metals.
“This could be a rough week for gold as renewed peace talks rekindle risk appetite,” said Lukman Otunuga, manager, market analysis at FXTM, in a market update. “An appreciating dollar and rising Treasury yields are likely to rub salt into the wound, sending the precious metal on a slippery decline,” he said. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY
and Treasury yields trade higher month to date.
On top of this, the U.S. March jobs report on Friday “could compound gold’s woes if the numbers exceed market expectations,” said Otunuga.
Gold for April delivery
GC00
GCJ22
fell $27.60, or 1.4%, to end at $1,912.20 an ounce on Comex after touching a low at $1,888.30 — the lowest intraday price for a most-active contract since Feb. 25, according to FactSet data. June gold
GCM22,
which is now the most-active contract, settled at $1,918, down $26.70, or 1.4%. Both contracts settled at their lowest since March 16.
May silver
SI00
SIK22
also fell 46 cents, or 1.8%, to $24.736 an ounce after a $24.045 low — the lowest also since Feb. 25.
Russian news agency TASS quoted Russia’s deputy defense minister as saying the country’s military would “radically reduce” activity outside Kyiv and Chernihiv, according to the BBC. Russian news agencies also quoted Moscow’s negotiators reporting progress after talks with Ukrainian counterparts resumed in Turkey.
There’s a “heavy hint of optimism in the air amidst headlines of potential Putin-Zelensky peace talks, and the Russian military cutting back…
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