Gold edges up to $4,206.86 as Brent falls 1.2% on Houthi strike and ceasefire claim
Renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia's main airport added to concerns over a wider Middle East conflict even as Trump claimed a Russia-Ukraine energy ceasefire
Published
Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Dammam, Riyadh
Gold rose 0.3% to $4,206.86 an ounce as Brent crude fell 1.2%, with traders weighing a fresh Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia's main airport against Trump's claim of an immediate Russia-Ukraine energy ceasefire.
Saudi Civil Aviation says it is still evaluating the extent of damage from the strike on Dammam Airport, with no disruption confirmed so far. Trump said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to the ceasefire following a week of strikes on refineries and pumping stations on both sides, but Zelenskiy says the claim caught him by surprise and that Ukraine will accept it only if Russia does too. The Financial Times reports Washington has threatened to withhold arms supplies over Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, while Moscow has yet to confirm any ceasefire. On Saturday, Ukraine struck Russia's Samara oil pumping station, part of a string of hits on Russian oil infrastructure that have so far left broader markets unmoved. EU Commission President von der Leyen has backed Zelenskiy's call for a ceasefire and the EU plans to increase drone and missile funding for Ukraine.
Gold's move fits a pattern seen since mid-September, in which Trump's ceasefire claims have repeatedly gone unconfirmed by Moscow and have not stopped refinery and grid strikes on either side, so the metal's bid looks tied more to Middle East escalation risk than to any credible Russia-Ukraine de-escalation. The renewed Houthi strike on Saudi Arabia's main airport extends a string of attacks that have reached the capital itself, a shift from the provincial strikes markets had treated as noise, keeping energy-cost and inflation risk alive even as Brent falls on the ceasefire headline. That combination, a safe-haven bid alongside unresolved supply risk, leaves equities exposed to repricing if either the Houthi campaign or the Ukraine fighting proves the optimistic rhetoric wrong again.