AGE Daily Gold Update

AGE Daily Gold Update presents a recap on today's action in the precious metals markets. View archives.

4/12/2024: Gold scores 1.3% weekly win

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin — New York spot gold added less than 0.1% to close at $2,356.20, another all-time high, as worries about escalating Middle East violence and China's economic woes stoked safe-haven inflows and higher oil prices. Adding 1.3% for the week, the gold price has now risen in 15 of the last 17 sessions. Silver added 0.3% to close at $28.33 an ounce, posting a weekly rise of 3%.

Following last week's killing by of a senior Iranian officer in an Israeli attack on an embassy compound in Syria, Israel is bracing retaliation that is expected "very soon, in the next few days," according to Israel's largest daily newspaper. Iran's supreme leader, calling it an attack on Iran itself, has vowed that Israel "must be punished and shall be."

The growing risk of a major expansion in the Gaza war to include Iran is driving global into safe havens. Benchmark sovereign bonds in the US and other major economies rallied today, depressing yields, while the dollar gathered flights to safety in the currency markets.

Oil surged 1.2% to more than $86 per barrel on worries that escalating violence in the Middle East will reduce global supplies. Gold often trades in sympathy with oil as a hedge against energy-related inflation.

Softer growth in China, the world's second largest economy, is also prompting global demand for gold. Recent data show China's imports and exports have both fallen off Q2 after a relatively solid Q1, according to recent PMI surveys and the China' Beige Book. This week, Fitch Ratings downgraded China's foreign debt rating to negative from stable.

And gold's historic rally remains supported by near-record levels of buying by global central banks, especially China's, to diversify away from G7 currency risk.

The metal reached an intra-day record of $2,432.70 before falling back late in the session.

Platinum rose 1.5% for a weekly advance of 6.8%; palladium picked up 1.8% for the day and 5.2% for the week.

At the New York spot close: gold added $1.4, to $2,356.20; silver rose 8 cents to $28.33; platinum picked up $14.70 to $993.20; and palladium climbed $18.80 to $1,059.50 an ounce.