RIYADH:Â Gold prices bounced back in volatile trading on Friday as focus turned to economic risks after elevated US inflation readings bolstered bets for aggressive interest rate hikes.
Spot gold is currently priced at $1,871.60 an ounce, while US gold futures are at $1,875.50.
Soybean eases
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures ended weaker on Friday on profit-taking after rallying close to an all-time high on strong US export demand and supply concerns.
Most active CBOT soybean futures slid 23-1/2 cents to $17.45-1/2 a bushel. On Thursday, the contract reached its highest since September 2012 at $17.84 a bushel, a nickel away from an all-time high.
Most-active corn rose 1/4-cent to $7.73-1/4 a bushel, while soft red winter wheat slipped 1/2-cent to $10.70-3/4 at the CBOT. July hard red winter wheat jumped 8-3/4 cents to $11.62-1/2 a bushel after the US Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for the US harvest of the drought-hit crop.
Russian shelling destroys 300,000 tons of grain: deputy minister
Russian shelling last weekend may have destroyed up to 300,000 tons of grain stored in warehouses, deputy agriculture minister Taras Vysotskyi of Ukraine said on Saturday.
Speaking on national television, Vysotskyi said, at the start of the war on Feb. 24, the warehouses at one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural commodities terminals in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv held 250,000-300,000 tons of grain, mainly wheat and corn.
(With input from Reuters)
