Platinum Price Forecast: XPT/USD drops towards $1,100 as Ukraine-led fears recede

Platinum (XPT/USD) tracks other commodities to the south during early Tuesday as it drops 0.40% intraday to $1,122 by the press time. In doing so, the precious metal stretches the previous day’s U-turn from the highest levels since June 2021 as risk appetite improves.

The European Union (EU) and the UK’s rejection of the US plan to ban Russian oil imports seem to have triggered the latest consolidation in the markets. On the same line could be headlines from Reuters suggesting hopes of talks over the human corridor in Ukraine to evacuate civilians.

“Moscow would give the residents of the Ukrainian cities of Sumy and Mariupol the choice of moving elsewhere in Ukraine on Tuesday, setting a deadline in the early hours for Kyiv to agree, Russian news agencies reported,” Reuters said. Also favoring the risk appetite could be the World Bank’s (WB) humanitarian aid to Kyiv.

On the contrary, no major progress in the Russia-Ukraine talks and Moscow’s continues invasion of Kyiv weigh on the market’s sentiment. As per Reuters, “Ukrainian officials said a Russian airstrike hit a bread factory in northern Ukraine on Monday, killing at least 13 civilians, while talks between Kyiv and Moscow made little progress towards easing the conflict.”

Amid these plays, the US 10-year Treasury yields extend the previous day’s rebound from two-month to 1.8%, up five basis points at the latest, whereas S&P 500 Futures print mild gains at the latest.

Moving on, headlines from Russia and Ukraine will be the key catalyst for market players to watch for short-term direction whereas Thursday’s US Consumer Price Index (CPI) could offer additional directions.

Technical analysis

Despite the latest pullback from $1,159, XPT/USD stays above the 50% Fibonacci retracement of February-December 2021 downside, around $1,115, which put a short-term floor under the prices.