Gold prices fell – today, Wednesday – with an increase in the demand for high-risk assets, following the receding of fears of an expansion of the global banking crisis, while oil rose and the dollar rose slightly against most major currencies.
Gold fell in the spot market to $ 1961.80 an ounce by 07:49 GMT, after it increased 1% yesterday, Tuesday. US gold futures fell to 1963.10 dollars.
Yesterday’s data showed that US consumer confidence rose unexpectedly in March, while the US merchandise trade deficit recorded a modest increase in February.
For other precious metals:
- Silver fell to $23.15 an ounce.
- Platinum fell to $962.05.
- Palladium lost $1,414.64.
The dollar is stabilizing
The dollar rose slightly against most of the major currencies – today, Wednesday – to stabilize after falling over the past few sessions, and rose sharply against the yen, which witnessed volatility as the Japanese fiscal year came to an end.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against 6 major currencies, rose 0.15% to 102.64 points, and it had fallen in the past two sessions, and is expected to record a monthly loss of 2.1%, to fall victim to market turmoil caused by problems in the banking sector.
The euro fell to 1.0834 dollars, while the pound sterling recorded a slight decline to 1.2316 dollars, just below the highest level during the session in nearly two months at 1.2348 dollars recorded in the last session, and the Australian dollar fell to 0.6674 dollars.
And the yen’s fluctuations continued with the approaching end of the Japanese fiscal year on Friday. The dollar touched a one-week high and rose in the latest transactions to 131.99 yen, while the euro increased 0.6% against the Japanese currency to 142.9 yen.
The yen had recorded its highest levels in nearly two months against both the dollar and the euro last week, benefiting from the demand for safe assets.
Bitcoin increased 3% to $ 28,142, to stabilize after it fell after the problems faced by “Binance”, the largest digital currency exchange, which is facing a lawsuit from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Oil is rising
Oil prices rose for the third day in early Asian transactions today, Wednesday, as the suspension of some exports from Iraqi Kurdistan raised concern about the scarcity of supply, and market sentiment also improved with calming fears of a banking crisis.
Brent crude futures rose to $79.07 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate crude rose to $73.79 a barrel.
Oil prices rose after Iraq was forced to stop exporting about 450,000 barrels per day from the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region via Turkey, after a ruling in an arbitration case confirmed that Baghdad’s approval was necessary to ship the oil.
Prices were also supported by a drawdown in US crude oil inventories last week.
Market sources referred to figures issued by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, saying that US crude oil inventories fell by about 6.1 million barrels in the week ending March 24.
Gasoline stocks fell by about 5.9 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose by about 550 thousand barrels.
