By Asha Sistla

(Reuters] – While gold declined in range-bound trading on Thursday, safe-haven silver was poised for its greatest quarterly gain ever since September 2020. The Russia-Ukraine conflict boosted bullion’s appeal.

By 0507 GMT the price of an ounce was $1,921.55 less than it had been at 0.6% earlier. The U.S. declined 0.7% to $1.925.00

Metal has seen a gain of 5% in the last quarter, and 0.7% so far this month.

According to Michael McCarthy (chief strategy officer of Tiger Brokers in Australia), “Gold traders are trying to balance out potential gains based upon geopolitical risks and inflation and the dangerous outlook on gold holdings with rising rates. The net result has once more been that we have returned back into the middle part of the trading range.”

As Moscow increases its forces in eastern Ukraine after suffering setbacks around Kyiv’s capital, Ukrainian troops are ready for more Russian aggressions.

Bullion can be used as an insurance against inflation and a secure store of value in times of financial and political uncertainty. However, higher interest rates can increase the cost of non-yielding ore.

Although spot silver declined 1% to $24.59 an ounce, it was still on track for the highest quarterly increase since June 2021. While platinum fell 0.8%, it saw its largest quarterly gain in three years to $982.22.

However, auto-catalyst palladium dropped 0.3% to $2.259.76. It was still on pace for its largest quarterly jump since September 2020.

Don’t believe that those (platinum and palladium), will be falling anytime soon. This is due to companies not being sanctioned by the government, but self-sanctioning. Stephen Innes (managing partner, SPI Asset Management), stated that Russians are afraid to buy Russian commodities due to the social media retribution.