Friday, it was equities that sold off on higher risk, even though there were signs the Israelis had not really retaliated against Iran. Despite that, gold was boosted by a bit of safe-haven buying.
Monday, tensions had eased sharply over the weekend, and it was equities that surged, with commodities—led by a tanking gold price—selling off.
Even though overnight futures trading showed a small gain for the ASX 200 Tuesday morning, the significant fall in gold, the dip in oil, and a small sag for iron ore will temper that optimism.
Comex gold prices are now more than $US100 an ounce under the all-time high hit last week of $US2,448 an ounce after the metal traded around $US2,343 an ounce in Asia on Tuesday morning. That’s a fall of almost 3%, or more than $US70, and the largest for more than a year.
Oil slid to just over $US83 a barrel for US West Texas Intermediate-style crude, the lowest in three weeks. However, Brent edged higher in early Asian trading Tuesday morning to more than $US87 a barrel.
Copper was caught up in the sell-down, losing 0.2% to trade around $4.48—still the highest it has been for more than a year. However, silver slumped more than 5.4% as punters deserted it, and the price crashed to around $US27.27 an ounce.
Iron ore in Singapore eased to around $US116 a tonne, down from $US117.35 on Friday.
