Gold futures settled higher Wednesday for the first time in four sessions and silver rallied by more than 3%, with both precious metals settling at their highest prices since November. “Gold has been largely ignoring the inflation data and instead focusing on how the [Federal Reserve] might respond to those data,” said Peter Grant, vice president, senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals. Gold is often used a hedge against inflation. “Rising geopolitical tensions with Russia are also providing support for gold, he said. February gold rose $30.80, or 1.7%, to settle at $1,843.20 an ounce, the highest most-active contract finish since Nov. 19, FactSet data show. March silver , meanwhile, climbed 74 cents, or nearly 3.2%, to settle at $24.231 an ounce, the highest since Nov. 22, FactSet data show. Silver may be taking the lead “as pandemic-related growth concerns ease, which is just going to further stoke inflation,” said Grant.
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