Precious Metals Shine Amid Oil Price Volatility
The price of gold and silver rose this week despite surging oil prices and increasing interest rates. Gold jumped on Friday, reversing a third of its fall from two-week highs reached earlier in the week. The precious metal has now shown a weekly rise for only the sixth time in 21 weeks since the Iran war began.
Silver also rose, marking its seventh week of gains during the current Middle East conflict. It reversed 75% of last week's dramatic 6.8% plunge to its lowest weekend finish since November. The price of silver fixed around $58.35 per troy ounce at midday in London.
Meanwhile, Brent crude oil eased back from Thursday's spike above $100 per barrel on the ICE derivatives exchange's September contract. However, borrowing costs in the bond market hit 2011 levels for Germany's 10-year Bund and 2007 levels for the USA's 30-year Treasury.