2.7% drop for gold – Returned below $ 2,000

Gold closed lower on Wednesday, after four bullish sessions, with the precious metal falling below $ 2,000, as investors in the midst of the hopeful escalation of the crisis in Ukraine today turned from safe “shelters” to equities.

“There is a” broad climate shift between asset classes, “Colin Cieszynski, SIA Wealth Management’s chief market strategist, told MarketWatch. “, as the markets have been particularly volatile lately.

Today’s turn of investors is attributed to the emerging mood of Moscow and Kiev for a diplomatic solution that could lead to easing the crisis.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today that Russia would achieve its goal of securing a neutral status in Ukraine and would prefer to do so through talks, adding that this did not include the overthrow of the Kiev government. He stressed that Russia hopes to make more significant progress in the next round of talks with Ukraine, reiterating that its country reacted to the “conflict course” followed by the North Atlantic Alliance.

For its part, Kyiv said Ukraine would not consent to any unacceptable ultimatums set by Russia, but said it was ready to discuss issues such as Ukraine’s neutrality.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also told ABC News that he had lost interest in NATO, noting that he was open to dialogue on the fate of the republics of eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk, which Russia recognizes as independent.

Investors, however, continue to monitor geopolitical developments closely over the past two weeks as the Russian invasion of Ukraine destabilizes the global commodity system and fuels a rise in commodities, currencies and government debt as the effects on the global economy from Western sanctions against Russia.

At the same time, investors are watching closely the central banks moving to tighten their monetary policies in order to deal with the inflation rally that is expected to intensify due to the conflict in Eastern Europe.

In this context, they are waiting for tomorrow’s meeting of the European Central Bank, one week before the meeting of the Federal Reserve, in order to get a better picture of what the ECB intends to do.

Thus, on Wednesday, April delivery gold lost $ 55.10 or 2.7% and closed at $ 1,988.20, falling from the high of about 19 months that climbed yesterday when it closed at $ 2,043.30, a breath away from the level a record $ 2,069.40 as of August 6, 2020.

Silver also fell, with the May contract falling by $ 1.08 or 4% and closing at $ 25,816 an ounce, after the “jump” of 4.6% recorded yesterday.

The other metals also recorded losses. In particular, copper for May delivery fell 2.9% on Wednesday to close at $ 4,573 a pound, the April contract for platinum lost nearly 4% and ended the day at $ 1,107.60 an ounce, while palladium in June fell by 0.6% and closed at $ 2,949.80 an ounce.