gold
Gold prices rose when settling the transactions of the last session in 2021, but they recorded the largest annual losses since 2015 after falling by 3.6% over the year.
Pressures on gold prices increased with the world’s central banks heading to tighten their monetary policy to face the increasing inflationary pressures, while expectations about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates increased from next March with the continued recovery of the economy.
These developments supported the rise of the US dollar at the expense of gold prices, as the dollar tends to record annual gains of about 7%, and this is its best annual performance since 2015.
The developments of the “Corona” virus continued to dominate market movements, with record infections recorded around the world, as data from “Johns Hopkins University” revealed that new “Corona” infections in the United States exceeded the barrier of 2.4 million cases during the past week, which represents the largest increase since the beginning of the pandemic.
Upon settlement, the price of gold futures contracts for February delivery rose by 0.8%, equivalent to $14.50, to reach $1,828.60 an ounce, recording a weekly increase of 0.9%, and it also rose by 2.9% during December.
During the last quarter of 2021, gold recorded gains of about 4%, but it declined in total this year by about 3.6%, recording the largest annual decline since 2015.