Futures & Commodities

Palladium steadies from record high on Ukraine crisis

Key Points
  • Palladium briefly reached a record high of $3,440 on Monday amid fears of supply disruptions in the wake of an escalating Russia-Ukraine crisis.
  • Spot gold rose 1.5% to $1,997.91and briefly scaled the $2,000 mark, an all-time high since Aug. 19, 2020.
  • U.S. gold futures rose about 1.77% to $2,001.40.
A five hundred gram gold bar, left, and a a one kilogram gold bar, produced by Swiss manufacturer Argor Hebaeus SA, in Budapest, Hungary.
Akos Stiller | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Palladium briefly reached a record high on Monday amid fears of supply disruptions in the wake of an escalating Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Spot gold rose 1.5% to $1,997.91and briefly scaled the $2,000 mark, an all-time high since Aug. 19, 2020. U.S. gold futures rose about 1.77% to $2,001.40.

"Gold will likely find some heavy traffic around the $2,000 level initially, but once it is cleared, assuming no change in the Ukraine situation, it will quickly move to the $2,100 region and on to new all-time highs," said OANDA senior analyst Jeffrey Halley.

Strategas' Chris Verrone charts out gold's next move
VIDEO4:4604:46
Strategas' Chris Verrone charts out gold's next move

Palladium dropped 0.23% to $2,995.39 per ounce around 4 p.m. ET after hitting an all-time high of more than $3,440 earlier in the day.

Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, rose to their highest since mid-March 2021 on Friday.

Spot gold may keep rising towards $2,065 per ounce, according to Reuters' technical analyst Wang Tao.

Russia accounts for 40% of global production of the auto-catalyst metal, used by automakers in catalytic converters to curb emissions.

"We're looking at a very significant pick-up in concerns around the disruptions with Ukraine seemingly because the conflict is showing signs of broadening," said Ilya Spivak, a currency strategist at DailyFX, pointing to speculations about more Western sanctions, perhaps even a formal ban on Russian oil imports.

Spot silver was flat at $25.62 per ounce ad was platinum at $1,121.23.