"Gold Surges on Escalating Gaza-Israel Tensions"
Gold has surged back above the $2,000/ounce threshold as risk-averse investors seek refuge amid growing concerns of a potential full-scale Israeli invasion of Gaza to root out Hamas militants.
The most actively traded Comex Gold Futures for December delivery concluded the official trading session on Friday at $2,000.10 per ounce, marking a $10.00 increase or 0.52% from the day's peak of $2,017.70.
In after-hours trading, the gold futures contract edged slightly higher, reaching $2,017.85 at 15:35 Eastern Daylight Time (19:35 Greenwich Mean Time), marking a $20.45 increase or 1.02% for the day.
The late-session recovery in gold prices comes in response to a series of recent Middle East conflict headlines, as both Israeli and Hamas combatants inch closer to an escalation, despite strong mediation efforts by the United States and other global powers.
A Hamas military official has set conditions for releasing hostages in Gaza, following an Israeli ceasefire order in the Palestinian territory, as reported by Reuters. Israel has announced its preparations for a ground invasion, but has been urged by the U.S. and Arab nations to delay a campaign that would multiply civilian casualties in densely populated coastal regions and potentially ignite a larger-scale conflict.
"It's a 'mess,' in a word," said John Kilduff, a partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital, a sentiment that could resonate with traders across various markets. Kilduff noted that as far as he knows, "no one knows where this is heading, and everyone is just jumping from one headline to the next."
"However, it's a real-world day for volatility traders," he added, using the abbreviation "vol."
Spot gold, which some traders monitor more closely than futures contracts, was priced at $2,007.13, marking a $22.24 increase or 1.1% for the day, after reaching a peak of $2,009.41.
"With spot gold successfully breaking through the $1,998 horizontal resistance and reaching $2,009, the next significant boost will be targeting $2,050 and $2,075," noted Sunil Kumar Dixit, chief technical strategist at SKCharting.com. "Immediate support for spot gold has also shifted higher, up to the $1,990 - $1,980 range."
Israeli forces have initiated their largest ground assault on Hamas in Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating that the Israeli military is still preparing for a full-scale invasion.
While this is being held in check with strong global diplomatic efforts, the threat of the world's fifth-largest oil producer, Iran, increasingly involving itself in the conflict appears to grow with each passing day of the three-week-long conflict.
Tehran, a strong supporter of Hamas, has been continuously goading its Israeli ally since Hamas launched a bloody attack in southern Israel on July 7, sparking the worst Middle East fighting in decades. The U.S. military has struck Iranian targets in Syria on a recent Friday, prompting Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian to warn that the U.S. "will not escape from this fire."
In a separate development, rockets struck two towns in Egypt's Red Sea region on Friday, injuring several people, sources and officials said, highlighting the risk of the conflict spilling over into the area.
The most actively traded Comex Gold Futures for December delivery concluded the official trading session on Friday at $2,000.10 per ounce, marking a $10.00 increase or 0.52% from the day's peak of $2,017.70.
In after-hours trading, the gold futures contract edged slightly higher, reaching $2,017.85 at 15:35 Eastern Daylight Time (19:35 Greenwich Mean Time), marking a $20.45 increase or 1.02% for the day.
The late-session recovery in gold prices comes in response to a series of recent Middle East conflict headlines, as both Israeli and Hamas combatants inch closer to an escalation, despite strong mediation efforts by the United States and other global powers.
A Hamas military official has set conditions for releasing hostages in Gaza, following an Israeli ceasefire order in the Palestinian territory, as reported by Reuters. Israel has announced its preparations for a ground invasion, but has been urged by the U.S. and Arab nations to delay a campaign that would multiply civilian casualties in densely populated coastal regions and potentially ignite a larger-scale conflict.
"It's a 'mess,' in a word," said John Kilduff, a partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital, a sentiment that could resonate with traders across various markets. Kilduff noted that as far as he knows, "no one knows where this is heading, and everyone is just jumping from one headline to the next."
"However, it's a real-world day for volatility traders," he added, using the abbreviation "vol."
Spot gold, which some traders monitor more closely than futures contracts, was priced at $2,007.13, marking a $22.24 increase or 1.1% for the day, after reaching a peak of $2,009.41.
"With spot gold successfully breaking through the $1,998 horizontal resistance and reaching $2,009, the next significant boost will be targeting $2,050 and $2,075," noted Sunil Kumar Dixit, chief technical strategist at SKCharting.com. "Immediate support for spot gold has also shifted higher, up to the $1,990 - $1,980 range."
Israeli forces have initiated their largest ground assault on Hamas in Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating that the Israeli military is still preparing for a full-scale invasion.
While this is being held in check with strong global diplomatic efforts, the threat of the world's fifth-largest oil producer, Iran, increasingly involving itself in the conflict appears to grow with each passing day of the three-week-long conflict.
Tehran, a strong supporter of Hamas, has been continuously goading its Israeli ally since Hamas launched a bloody attack in southern Israel on July 7, sparking the worst Middle East fighting in decades. The U.S. military has struck Iranian targets in Syria on a recent Friday, prompting Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian to warn that the U.S. "will not escape from this fire."
In a separate development, rockets struck two towns in Egypt's Red Sea region on Friday, injuring several people, sources and officials said, highlighting the risk of the conflict spilling over into the area.
