Arpan Varghese

(Reuters) – Palladium’s gains extended on Friday as it broke above the $2,800 per ounce mark. This was in response to growing concerns about Russia’s supply shortages. Meanwhile, safe-haven Gold remained firm due to the conflict in Ukraine.

Spot palladium rose 0.8%, to $2,797.53 at 1025 GMT. It had previously reached $2,835.48, its highest level since July 2021. The price of spot palladium was expected to rise 18% this week. This would mark its lowest level since mid-March 2020.

Russia produces 40% of all global auto-catalyst materials used in converters for curbing vehicle emissions.

“The Russian invasion in Ukraine somehow contributes to the palladium supercycle and reinforces them.” It all started with the disintegration of COVID locksdowns…and an increase in raw material demand,” Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades, said.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued, the West imposed sanctions against Russia.[MKTS/GLOB]

Russia is experiencing a buyer strike for virtually all goods. Stephen Innes (managing partner, SPI Asset Management), stated that Palladium was no exception.

Gold is now up around 3% this week due to the increased demand for safe-havens. This helps it ignore the rise in the dollar during the crisis and the imminent U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate increase. [USD/][US/]

Rupert Rowling (market analyst at Kinesis Money), stated that the Fed must be careful given Ukraine’s situation. He also noted in a note, “While the Fed will need to tread carefully” regarding gold.

The price of an ounce rose 0.5% to $1944.20, while the U.S. gained 0.6% to $1.947.40.

Spot silver gained 0.1%, to $25.18 an ounce. This was the fifth consecutive week of gains. Platinum lost 0.2% at $1,078.28.