Gold prices rose slightly in the early trading session in the US, while silver prices broke through strongly and are approaching the 100 USD/ounce mark. Both precious metals reached their highest ever peaks in last night's trading session.
Safe shelter demand continues to be high, along with buying power based on technical signals in the context of a very solid upward trend, which has been and is pushing precious metal prices up. Gold for February delivery increased by 11.1 USD, to 4,924.5 USD/ounce. Silver for March delivery increased sharply by 2,413 USD, to 98.78 USD/ounce.
The Japanese government bond market became more stable at the end of the trading week. Short-term bond yields increased after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised its inflation forecast, while selling pressure on long terms continued to cool down after a strong fluctuation at the beginning of the week.
The yield on 2-year term bonds increased by 2.5 basis points to 1.24%, while the 5-year term increased by 2 basis points to 1.68%. Conversely, the yield on 40-year term bonds decreased by 5.5 basis points to 3.94%, after previously hitting the highest level since being issued, according to Bloomberg.
This sharp increase is said to be affected by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's campaign promise to cut taxes.
BOJ kept policy interest rates unchanged at 0.75% in a meeting on Friday, even though a member of the board, Mr. Hajime Takata, voted in favor of continuing interest rate hikes. In its latest quarterly outlook report, BOJ adjusted to increase 4 out of 6 inflation forecasts and reaffirmed that it would continue to raise borrowing costs if this outlook becomes a reality.
In another development, the European Union is expected to resume the ratification process of the trade agreement with the US after President Donald Trump withdrew statements related to imposing taxes on European countries.
Previously, this process was suspended after Mr. Trump mentioned his intention to buy Greenland. However, after Mr. Trump announced that he had reached a framework agreement with NATO regarding Greenland and announced the cancellation of new tariffs on the EU, European Parliament Speaker Roberta Metsola said that this reversal is sufficient for the EU to conduct a vote. A preliminary vote could take place in the next few days, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin resumed talks with US special envoys at the Kremlin to promote a peace plan to end the conflict in Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, the talks lasted nearly 4 hours with the participation of senior officials from both sides.
Technically, the February gold futures market continues to maintain a strong upward trend, as buyers are aiming to close above the important resistance level of 5,000 USD/ounce.
In the opposite direction, the short-term target of the selling side is to pull the price down below the key support zone at 4,539.1 USD/ounce. In the short term, the nearest resistance level was determined at a record high in the night trading session of 4,970 USD/ounce, before testing the psychological milestone of 5,000 USD/ounce.
Supporting zones are at 4,900 USD and 4,850 USD/ounce respectively. Notably, the market ranking according to Wyckoff is at a very high level, reaching 9.5 points, showing that buying force is still overwhelming and the upward trend is clearly dominant.
On other financial markets, crude oil prices rose and traded around 60.5 USD/barrel. The USD index remained almost flat, while the yield on US Treasury bonds for 10 years remained at around 4.24%.
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