Gold prices settled near a one-week high on Friday as concerns about inflationary pressures and uncertainty over the Ukraine crisis increased.
Despite the US central bank’s tendency to tighten monetary policy.
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By 8:15 (GMT), gold was traded in spot transactions at 1958.1 dollars an ounce, a slight increase of 36 cents, or 0.02 percent.
And US gold futures contracts also recorded a slight decrease, by $3.6, or 0.18%, to trade at 1958.6 dollars an ounce.
The yellow metal is heading to record a weekly gain of about 1.5 percent.
Gold’s attractiveness to investors as a safe haven has increased, at a time when the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations are stalled without progress, giving hope of an imminent end to the war.
The precious metal’s attractiveness is also increased by widespread fears of accelerating inflation worldwide.
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Which has already reached its highest levels in decades, and is expected to rise further due to the confusion of supply chains as the war in Ukraine continues, and gold is used as a tool to hedge against inflation.
Gold’s gains come despite the successive statements by Federal Reserve officials regarding greater monetary policy tightening and accelerating interest rate hikes to counter inflationary pressures.
On March 16, the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point to 0.5% for the first time since late 2018.
Over the weekend, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the US central bank is ready to accelerate rate hikes in 2022.
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Raising it by more than a quarter of a percentage point one or more times if necessary.
