By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Thursday morning in Asia, but the yellow metal is set for its biggest quarterly gain since September 2020 as the ongoing war in Ukraine raises demand for the safe-haven asset.

The yellow metal fell 0.7% to $1.919.9 at 1:23 AM ET (5.23 AM GMT) but has gained approximately 5.6% in the first quarter 2022, and about 1% so far this month. Following a close to one month low in the previous session, Thursday saw the inverse movement of gold and the slid slightly.

The war in Ukraine that was triggered by Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24 continues, with peace talks between the two countries making little progress. After suffering setbacks in Kyiv’s capital, Russian troops are now building up their forces east of Ukraine. According to Volodymyr Zilenskiy on Thursday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zeleskiy, Ukrainian forces have been preparing for more Russian aggressions.

U.S. Treasury yields dropped while a major part of the yield curve steepened in Wednesday. This unwound recent moves betting that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance could send the world’s largest economy into recession.

In Asia Pacific, the Bank of Japan’s intervention to prevent government bond yields from rising too high starkly contrasts with the Fed’s approach. In March 2022 the manufacturing purchasing manager index (PMI), which was released earlier today, was 49.5. The non-manufacturing PMI stood at 48.4. Friday will see the Caixin manufacturing PMI.

Silver fell 0.7%, to $24.67 an ounce. However it was poised for the best quarter-to-quarterly rise since June 2021. Platinum lost 0.6% at $984.26, but is on track for the largest quarterly gain since March 2021. Palladium fell 0.5% to $2255.28, but is on track for the sharpest quarterly rise since September 2020.