"Gold will continue to be steady on the upside if there's an escalation (in the Saudi Arabia situation)." Drone attacks on two plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry on Saturday triggered a surge in oil prices and a slide in wider financial markets. While the Yemeni Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attack, a senior US official indicated Iran was behind it.
Gold is often used as a safe store of value during times of political and financial uncertainty. "This is the biggest geopolitical flashpoint to impact the world marketplace in quite some time ... Sharply higher oil prices may throw a monkey wrench into central banks' monetary policies, which had heretofore been leaning very easy," Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst with Kitco Metals, wrote in a note.
Central banks globally face increasing pressure to dole out monetary support for flagging economies as the US-China trade war hurts trade and business sentiment. Silver jumped 2.7% to $17.90 an ounce, while platinum fell 1.2% to $937.02. Palladium fell 0.3% to $1,601.80 per ounce after hitting a record high of $1,626.81. Platinum and palladium are reacting to the jump in crude prices since both metals are used not just as autocatalysts, but also to crack crude oil into heating oil and gasoline, said RBC Wealth Management's Gero.