Gold steadies as traders weigh diplomatic push to end Iran War

[SINGAPORE] Gold was little changed as traders weighed the latest efforts by the US and Iran to find a negotiated solution to the two-month war that’s choked energy supplies and heightened inflation risks.

Bullion was near US$4,695 an ounce, having slipped 0.6 per cent on Monday (Apr 27). US President Donald Trump convened a meeting of national security officials to discuss Iran’s latest peace proposal but maintained red lines on any deal to end the conflict, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

The comments followed reports that Teheran proposed an interim deal whereby it reopens the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for Washington ending its blockade of ships moving to and from Iranian ports. The standoff has reduced daily transits via the strategic waterway to near zero, choking off flows of crude, natural gas and oil products. The Iranian proposal would also postpone more complex negotiations over the country’s nuclear programme.

The indefinite extension of the ceasefire, with Hormuz still blocked, “prolongs market uncertainty”, said Marc Loeffert, a trader at Heraeus Precious Metals. “In the long run, the combination of economic stagnation and rising prices could provide fertile ground for the gold bull market to continue,” he said.

Traders will be keeping tabs on interest-rate decisions by the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and peers in Japan, the UK and Canada this week. The energy-supply shock caused by the eight-week conflict has added to inflation risks, raising the likelihood that central banks will keep rates steady for longer or even hike them, which is a headwind for non-yielding bullion. Gold has lost about 11 per cent since the conflict began at the end of February.

Spot gold was up 0.3 per cent at US$4,697.49 an ounce at 8.06 am in Singapore. Silver rose 0.7 per cent to US$76.03 an ounce. Platinum and palladium also advanced. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the US currency, was marginally lower after dipping 0.1 per cent on Monday. BLOOMBERG