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Gold Smashes Record Highs Again

An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
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Gold Smashes Record Highs Again

An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo

Gold prices extended a record run on Wednesday as concerns of inflationary pressures boosted demand for bullion as a hedge, with traders shrugging off doubts over an imminent US interest rate cut and rising Treasury yields.
Spot gold was up 0.2% at $2,283.76 per ounce, as of 0602 GMT, and hit a record high of $2,288.09 earlier in the session. Bullion has hit record highs consecutively since Thursday.
US gold futures gained 1% to $2,304.20.
"Gold continues to receive safe-haven flows as Ukraine continues to attack Russia's oil infrastructure, to the point it is ignoring rising US yields and the prospects of the Fed not cutting rates in June," City Index senior analyst Matt Simpson said.
Federal Reserve policymakers on Tuesday said they think it would be "reasonable" to cut US rates three times this year, even as stronger recent economic data has sown investor doubts about that outcome.
Data this week showed US manufacturing unexpectedly rebounded, with the rise in raw materials prices triggering fears that inflation could resurge.
"With commodity prices rising in general, it brings the risks of another round of inflation - so perhaps investors are hedging for inflation," Reuters quoted Simpson as saying.
Gold, which is used a hedge against inflation and a safe haven during times of political and economic uncertainty, has gained more than 10.8% so far this year and is set for a seventh consecutive daily rise.
"Right now, gold is sensing that inflation is more of a driving variable than the interest rates and part of the momentum is also driven by speculators, hedge funds and commodity funds that start buying gold whenever their quantitative systems give them signals," Marex analyst Edward Meir said.
Elsewhere, spot silver rose 1% to $26.36 per ounce, platinum gained 0.9% to $926.80 and palladium was up 0.8% at $1.011.62.
Gold's searing rally is doing nothing to reignite enthusiasm for platinum jewelry in Asia, analysts said.

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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.