Gold Ticks Lower Amid Conflicting Reports On Efforts To End Gulf War

(RTTNews) - Gold prices gave back the gains made earlier in the session, when it bounced from consecutive sessions of decline amid reports of U.S.-Iran peace talks through third-party mediators, as investors wanted more credible reports before making big moves.

Front Month Comex Gold for April delivery has slipped by $6.20 (or 0.14%) to $4,401.10 per troy ounce.

Front Month Comex Silver for April delivery has edged higher by $0.531 (or 0.77%) to $69.640 per troy ounce.

The escalation in the Middle East that began after U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran entered day number twenty-five.

Yesterday, the announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump that he ordered a pause on U.S. military strikes against Iran for five days eased market tension and boosted investor confidence.

Trump also claimed that Iran was seeking a diplomatic solutions to solve the crisis.

Though Iranian media denied Trump's claim, his message was enough to trigger fund-flow to stock markets as they regained momentum as oil prices plunged.

CBS News quoted a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official stating that Iran received points for discussions from the U.S. through mediators that are being reviewed.

Claiming that the U.S. is talking with a respected Iranian official, Trump reasserted that Iran wants to make a deal. Iranian officials have been denying this so far.

These claims and counter-claims have still kept up uncertainty among investors.

As missile exchanges continue between Israel and Iran, regional tensions have not cooled.

Kuwait faced missile and drone attacks overnight and responded swiftly, Saudi Arabia contained more than 20 drones, and in Bahrain alert sirens have been sounded.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Israeli troops will control southern Lebanon in their operation against Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, to replace Ali Larijani, who was killed on March 17 in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike, Iran appointed former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp commander Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr as the new Supreme National Security Council secretary.

Market participants are eagerly awaiting updates on when the war could likely come to an end.

The Strait of Hormuz through which nearly one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG moves to the rest of the world from Arab nations remains blocked ever since the start of this war.

The damages to oil infrastructures in the Middle East are so extensive that experts claim repairs and resumption of operations to the pre-war level would take many months.

Amid reports that Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey offered to broker a third-party negotiation to discuss means to end the war, traders are analyzing the merit in today's reports from Axios stating that the U.S. and Iran could meet for negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan, to discuss peace, with the U.S. Vice President JD Vance as a probable chief negotiator.

Though neither the U.S. nor Iran officially confirmed this, investors received the news with mild optimism

Despite inflationary concerns remaining, the news that the U.S. is open to all avenues to end the confrontation was received by investors with cheer.

On the monetary front, economists view that the U.S. Federal Reserve and major central banks across the world would hold on interest rates unchanged in the near-term.

This has supported long-term credibility on the U.S. dollar and exerted pressure on the yellow metal.

On the economic front, Automatic Data Processing revealed today that private employers added an average of 10,000 jobs per week in the four weeks ending March 7.

The S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI climbed to 52.4 in March, up from 51.6 in February, and exceeding market expectations of 51.3.

Marking the second straight month of slowing growth, the flash S&P Global U.S. Composite Purchasing Managers' Index slipped to 51.4 in March from 51.9 in February.

The U.S. dollar index was last seen trading at 99.56, up by 0.39 points (or 0.39%) today.