Crude oil prices ease to $105/bbl as Trump hints ‘final stage’ of US-Iran conflict; gold up 0.3%

Crude oil prices eased to around $105 per barrel (bbl) level after US President Donald Trump signalled that America is in the final stages of the conflict with Iran, yet the uncertainty still loomed over the investors as the Western nation pushes to not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

Due to the heightened uncertainty in the market, benchmark Brent crude oil prices touched an intraday high of $111.49 per bbl during Wednesday’s trading session, after opening around $110 per bbl. After Trump’s comments, the oil prices have eased marginally, but they still remain elevated.

The US-based West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices also surged to an intraday high of $104.45 per bbl on May 20.

Investors focused their attention on dynamic developments on the US-Iran conflict front, along with any potential escalations from either side at the Strait of Hormuz, which has the potential to trigger a further supply chain crisis.

Oil prices today

Brent crude oil prices were trading 0.02% higher at $105.50 per bbl as of 8:12 am (IST) on Thursday, compared to $105.48 per bbl at the previous commodity market close, according to Investing.com data.

The exchange data also showed that the WTI crude oil prices were trading 0.18% lower at $98.91 per bbl on May 21, India time, compared to $99 per bbl at the previous energy market close.

Oil prices have gained nearly 50% in the last three months, and ober 7% in the past one-month period. The data also showed that crude oil futures were trading 1.96% lower in the last five trading sessions.

Final stage of peace deal?

According to a Reuters report, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that America is in the ‘final stages of Iran’ as the nation awaits a positive response from the negotiators in West Asia.

“We're in the final stages of Iran. We'll see what happens. Either have a deal or ​we're going to do some things that are a little bit nasty, but hopefully that won't happen,” said Trump. “Ideally, I'd like to see few ⁠people killed, as opposed to a lot. We can do it either way.”

This comes after Trump postponed his plans to carry out a military attack in Iran. However, reports also suggest that Trump is willing to wait until later this week to see the progress on the negotiations or any peace deal; if not, then he will launch combat operations in Iran.

In response, the Iranian authorities have said that any aggression against the country will prompt an extension of the war “beyond the region” this time.

Gold prices today

As of 10:18 pm (ET), the New York Mercantile Exchange-based COMEX gold prices were trading 0.34% higher at $4,550.80 per ounce in United States on Wednesday, compared to $4,535.30 per ounce at the previous commodity market close.

Data show that the gold prices have been on a downward trend in the last three months, down over 10%, and 5.7% in the past one month. The precious metal gold prices were trading 3.3% lower over the last five trading sessions.

Gold prices were trading higher on Thursday’s market, India time, on the backdrop of a higher US dollar demand in the global market. Traders are likely to buy more of the precious metal gold despite a higher dollar rate in the market in cases of elevated geopolitical uncertainty.

Data collected from the US dollar spot index showed that the greenback was trading 0.08% higher at 99.169 as of 10:20 pm (ET) on Wednesday, May 20, compared to the previous market close.