UAE: Gold prices jump on Ukraine crisis; 24K hits Dh240.5 per gram in Dubai

Gold prices rose on Monday morning, hitting over a month high as the Russia-Ukraine military conflict drove investors to the precious metal.

Spot gold was up 0.5 per cent at $1,984.20 per ounce.

In the UAE, the precious metal prices jumped one-and-half dirham per gram at the opening of the market on Monday with 24K trading at Dh240.5 per gram as compared to its previous close of Dh239 per gram. Among the other variants, 22K opened at Dh225.75, 21K at Dh215.5 and 18K at Dh184.75 on Thursday morning.

Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial, said 24K prices are likely to trade in the range of Dh232 to Dh243 per gram this week.

Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in Asia today, the yellow metal resumed its rally, despite the US dollar also strengthening.

“Gold’s price action, it must be acknowledged, remains constructive. It is managing to maintain gains on US dollar strength, while also grinding higher even as US yields and the greenback both strengthen. Gold has initial resistance at $2,000 an ounce, although I believe option-related selling there will be a strong initial barrier. If that is cleared, gold could gap higher to $2,020 an ounce quite quickly and potentially, a retest of $2,080 an ounce,” he said.

Halley added that a retreat through $1,960 and $1,940 an ounce will signal a whipsaw move lower, chopping out the short-term money. “Failure of $1,915 will signal a retest of important support at $1,880 and possibly $1,800 an ounce,” he added.

waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai