By Seher Dareen
(Reuters) – Palladium steadied after jumping as much as 5% on Monday on supply concerns following a recent suspension on trading of the metal sourced from Russia in the London hub, while gold was buoyed by inflation fears.
Palladium was steady at $2,425.04 per ounce by 2:14 p.m. ET (1814 GMT) in choppy trading, having earlier scaled a peak since March 24 at $2,550.58. Platinum fell 0.2% to $973.40.
Newly refined Russian platinum and palladium was suspended from trading in London from Friday, denying access to the metals’ biggest trade hub because of the Ukraine war.
“The underlying fundamental support of concerns about supply disruptions remains the main focal point of the market,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.
Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,947.80 per ounce after hitting its highest since March 14 at $1,968.91. U.S. gold futures settled up 0.1% at $1,948.2.
Gold gave up some gains after Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans signalled he would not oppose getting interest rates up to a neutral setting, which would require a couple of 50 basis-point rate hikes at the central bank’s upcoming meetings.
“The real question is are (the Fed) truly going to take a strong enough stance against these inflationary pressures to stave off potentially what we believe is still a very supportive gold market?” High Ridge’s Meger added.
While gold is considered a hedge against inflation, rate hikes increase the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding bullion. [US/]
Focus was now on the March U.S. consumer price report due on Tuesday, with traders expecting further rises due to the impact of the Ukraine war on energy costs.
“The war is continuing and without a clear solution and it’s becoming evident it’s becoming a long term matter,” supporting gold, said Carlo Alberto De Casa, external market analyst at Kinesis.
Spot silver rose 0.5% to $24.87 per ounce.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen and Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel, Shailesh Kuber and Maju Samuel)
