Gold continued its strong rally as signs of progress toward resuming navigation through the Strait of Hormuz gave investors a new reason to scale back bets on further US monetary policy tightening. This marks a notable turn for a metal that had lost nearly a fifth of its value since the outbreak of war between the United States and Iran in late February.
The precious metal rose by up to 1.3%, surpassing $4,300 per ounce, after jumping 4.1% in the previous session—recording its largest daily gain since February 3. The move was also supported by a breakthrough above a key technical resistance level, which spurred additional buying following the limited gains gold posted in the week's first two sessions.
However, the main driver of the surge was not a resurgence of geopolitical fears, but almost the opposite. Progress in talks regarding the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices down and eased fears of a prolonged energy shock that had driven up inflation and forced markets to expect US interest rates to remain higher for longe