Mumbai, January 4 (IANS). The first full trading week of 2026 could be tense for global markets after a major geopolitical shock involving Venezuela, the country with the world’s largest oil reserves.
Late Friday night, the US launched a massive military attack on Venezuela and detained its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, after which US President Donald Trump said that Venezuela is now under American occupation. He said that until the situation there becomes stable, Venezuela will be run by America only.
The US has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of drug trafficking. This is a big international event.
After this incident, investors’ attention has shifted more towards safe investment items like gold and silver. At the same time, there is a possibility of oil prices increasing because there is a fear of interruption in the supply of oil.
Also, this may cause movement in the energy market (oil and gas) and people may move towards safer investments.
The beginning of the year 2026 was good for gold. The price of gold rose more than 1 percent to about $ 4,370 an ounce. The reason for this is global tension and the expectation that America may reduce interest rates this year.
At the same time, the price of silver also increased by more than 2 percent and reached around $ 73 per ounce. Dollar weakness, silver shortage and increasing demand from factories supported the prices.
However, if we look at the entire week, there was profit booking in gold and silver after last year’s sharp rise. In the international market, gold fell by almost 5 percent and silver by more than 8 percent.
In India, gold futures prices on MCX saw a sharp fall at the beginning of the week. This was the biggest one-day fall in the last two months, after which prices did not fluctuate much.
Experts say that if gold prices remain above a certain level, they may increase again. But if this level is broken, prices may fall further.
Oil prices also increased at the beginning of the year. WTI crude oil ended the week at around $57.3 per barrel. Oil prices had fallen by about 20 percent in the year 2025, because there was excess oil in the market.
Now tensions related to Venezuela and attacks on energy bases between Russia and Ukraine have increased the risk in the oil market.
The beginning of the year also saw a rise in the prices of base metals (such as copper and aluminium). Copper neared record levels and aluminum crossed $3,000 a tonne for the first time since 2022. Their prices were supported by strong demand in Asian markets.
–IANS
DBP/AS
