Gold, palladium beat fast retreat as risky assets bounce back

Ingots of 99.97 percent pure palladium are stored at a plant owned by Krastsvetmet, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of non-ferrous metals, in Krasnoyarsk, Russia April 9, 2019. REUTERS/

March 9 (Reuters) – Palladium slid as much as about 9% on Wednesday to lead a sharp reversal in precious metals, while gold shed over 3% as a retreat in oil prices helped riskier assets rebound after sharp declines spurred by the Ukraine war.

Palladium , used by automakers in catalytic converters to curb emissions, fell 7.5% to $2,940.72 per ounce after hitting a record high of $3,440.76 on Monday driven by fears of supply disruptions from top producer Russia. read more

“Things can’t just keep going up. At some point, equilibrium level has to be reached,” said Edward Meir, analyst with ED&F Man Capital Markets, adding palladium could still go higher since it was in a deficit prior to the crisis.

“At some stage, all these commodity prices have to discount the fact that there’s no Russian output coming in no matter what commodity you’re talking about,” Meir added.

Spot gold fell 3.3% to $1,983.96 per ounce by 13:54 ET (1854 GMT), snapping a rally that took it near the August 2020 all-time high. U.S. gold futures settled down 2.7% at $1,988.20.

“We got a little carried away with gold, but we’re at a much firmer footing than before this conflict, mainly because I still think the Federal Reserve and other central banks are going to be very cautious about how they reduce liquidity,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities.

Spot silver fell 3% to $25.59 per ounce, after touching a near nine-month high on Tuesday. Platinum dipped 7% to $1,072.41.

The reversal was also driven by profit-taking, analysts said.

Equities rebounded as oil prices eased and investors snapped up stocks hammered by concerns over sanctions on Russia.

Gold is considered a safe store of value amid such uncertainties.

“If the current instability in geopolitical terms continues, it’s very likely we’ll seek fresh all-time highs for precious metals,” said Michael McCarthy, chief strategy officer at Tiger Brokers, Australia.

Reporting by Seher Dareen and Arpan Varghese, additional reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam and Kavya Guduru in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel, Shailesh Kuber and Amy Caren Daniel

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