Precious, industrial metals price retreat mirroring broader market trend

New Delhi, Feb 25 After a sharp jump in prices of precious metals, industrial metals, and crude oil, which was ignited by the geo-political tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the previous day, they retreated considerably on Friday.

Brent-indexed crude oil fell well below $100 per barrel on Friday. At the time of filing this report, it traded at $94.85.

On Thursday, its intraday high was $105.79 per barrel, which was its multi-year high.

Gold prices on the COMEX exchange fell 1.5 per cent to $1,895 per ounce.

Silver prices in international markets fell over 2 per cent $24.18 per ounce.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India, price ofg gold and silver fell around 2.5 per cent each in rupee terms around Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,700, respectively.

"Financial markets will continue to remain vulnerable to geopolitical developments in the immediate future. Gold, which is a much-chased asset class in such times, is set to benefit as risk-averse investors increase exposure to it amid pullbacks in risk assets. Once the uncertainty on these front eases, gold prices can be expected to sober down," said Chirag Mehta, Senior Fund Manager, Alternative Investments at Quantum AMC.

"This environment (in Ukraine) will be supportive of gold prices but will eventually clash with the Fed's tightening cycle, which is expected to keep gold prices in check."

Mehta advised to investors who have already invested to stay put, while new investors should avoid lumpsum investment at current levels.

In the metals space, prices of platinum, palladium, aluminium and nickel in the international markets declined on Friday.

Russia and Ukraine are the major players in nickel, copper, palladium, and copper.

Taking cues from global peers, metals price back home on the MCX too cooled off considerably, data showed.

Besides, Russia is a big leader in natural gas and crude oil space. Prolonged geo-strategic tensions may bring in fresh upside pressure on their prices, said analysts.