Comex Gold Posts $44/oz Gain; Silver Prices Rise $3.5/oz Amid Renewed Iran Peace Hopes

Global Markets See Relief as Iran War Tensions Ease

Gold and silver prices have made a significant recovery from their intraday lows on Friday, 1 May, as hopes for a resolution to the Iran conflict rise. The COMEX gold futures market saw a surge of $44 per troy ounce, touching an intraday high of $4,673. Despite this, gold is still on track to record its second weekly loss. Silver futures also rebounded by $3.52 to $77.52, helping to reduce its weekly loss to 0.50%.

The development that has sparked this market shift is a reported new proposal from Iran to the United States, mediated by Pakistani mediators. The state-run news agency IRNA announced this major development. The Iran-US stalemate revolves around the key Strait of Hormuz, with both parties waiting for the other to make the first move before easing restrictions on traffic.

This week has seen sharp volatility in precious metals as traders navigated between hopes of peace talks and fears of escalating tensions following a fresh exchange of statements between the two countries. Iran has submitted multiple proposals to the US in the past, but these have been rejected by Donald Trump, who maintains that the Islamic Republic must agree to a nuclear deal that satisfies the White House's key demands.

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The ongoing standoff between the US and Iran is impacting global energy prices, with Brent crude reaching a four-year high earlier this week. Oil prices have now nearly doubled since the start of the year. Rising energy prices could encourage central banks to keep interest rates higher for longer, which would put pressure on non-yielding assets like gold as investors turn to alternatives such as Treasury yields that offer better returns.

The higher prices have also started reflecting in inflation numbers, with US inflation accelerating in March 2026 to 3.5% annually, its highest level in nearly three years. Policymakers have cautioned about the increase in prices and have revised inflation estimates higher, pushing back expectations of rate cuts. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, following similar decisions this week by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.

Bullion prices have fallen since the start of the Iran conflict in late February, despite the metal's traditional role as a hedge against geopolitical uncertainty. The Indian market has also seen a recovery, with the near-month gold futures contract on MCX Gold Futures rising ₹1,097 to reclaim the ₹1.52 lakh mark, touching ₹1,52,208. The silver futures contract on MCX Silver Futures gained sharply by ₹9,764 per kilogram to hit the day's high of ₹2,54,220, extending its winning streak to the second straight session. At today's high, silver has recovered nearly ₹22,000 from Tuesday's low, turning the white metal's weekly return positive at 2.50%.

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