Title: Gold rises as Ukraine crisis persists, hawkish Fed caps gains

Mar 21, 2022 03:35 AM ET

By: AnalysisWatch

Gold prices went up on Monday on demand for the safe-haven metal as the Ukraine crisis showed no signs of abating, although gains were capped by the Federal Reserve's plan for aggressive inflation-fighting measures.

By 03:12 ET AM, spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,924.45 per ounce. Gold futures in the United States were 0.3 percent lower at $1,924.00.

Ukraine on Monday rejected Russian demands to abandon the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water, or electricity, and fierce fighting shows little sign of abating.

To prevent further gains in the metal, two of the Federal Reserve's most aggressive policymakers said on Friday that the central bank needed to take more aggressive action to fight inflation.

According to an essay published on the regional Fed's website, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he wants to raise interest rates by 1.75% to 2% this year.

Higher interest rates tend to increase the opportunity cost of owning non-interest-bearing gold.

Holdings of the world's largest gold exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, rose 0.8% on Friday to 1,082.44 tonnes, a high since March 2021.

Palladium, which is used in catalytic converters to reduce emissions, increased 2.8 percent to $2,560.71 per ounce on March 7. supply disruptions by the main producer, Russia, had pushed the price to a record high of $3,440.76.

Spot silver held steady at $ 24.96 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.4 percent to $1,025.83.