Gold closed at a three-week high – 11% jump for palladium

Gold held a rally on Thursday, on the “back” of the fall of the US dollar, with the yellow metal closing at its highest point in three weeks, a day after the update – at the strictest – of the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve.

The rise in gold came despite the announcement by the US Federal Reserve of plans for a faster reduction of its bond markets and the forecast for three interest rate hikes in 2022.

“With the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) slightly tighter than the market expected, gold did not waver,” said Rhona O’Connell, head of market analysis for Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) regions. ) and Asia at StoneX, in a note. “After a brief dip in the announcement, followed by a slight jump in the dollar, gold began to improve its position and the dollar continued to fall.”

“The dollar has already incorporated the possibility of at least two interest rate hikes next year, as well as the fact that some emerging economies will benefit from improved commodity prices as well as economic recovery,” he added. “If you link the above with the search for yields and diversification of portfolios, along with the possibility of an improvement in the euro, it is not difficult to understand why the bull run of the dollar began to deflate.”

Gold also redeems its position as a compensatory factor to the financial risks posed by the coronavirus’s Micron mutation.

In this climate, the February gold gained $ 33.70 or 1.9%, closing at $ 1,798.20 per ounce, reaching $ 1,800.60 intra-conference. This is the highest closing since November 22, according to FactSet.

The March silver gained 94 cents or 4.4%, closing at $ 22,485 per ounce.

THE March copper gained 2.9% to $ 4,305 a pound, h January platinum recorded an increase of 3.9%, to 928.90 dollars per ounce, while the March palladium closed at $ 1,722.80 an ounce, up 11% after five consecutive loss sessions.

The palladium market has recovered “aggressively”, as if the price below $ 1,600 is “outrageously cheap”, analysts say in a note. Although, as they report, there are signs that the lack of semiconductor chips is slowly easing and this may mean an increase in metal demand from the automotive catalyst industry, the market does not yet have tangible evidence of this development.