Gold rebounds, silver extends losses as oil price sparks volatility

Gold prices rebounded slightly on Friday but silver prices fell further after both metals experienced heavy selling pressure in the previous session.

As of 6:17 a.m., spot gold was up 0.3% to $4,662.51 per ounce, retreating from big gains seen in the early morning hours. Gold futures closed 1.2% higher at $4,662.10.

Spot silver oscillated between positive and negative territory throughout the morning, last seen falling around 1.7% at $71.62 per ounce. Silver futures rose about 0.8%.

Gold and silver are heading towards a losing week; Gold is expected to end the week with a loss of nearly 9%, and silver with a decrease of more than 10%.

Metals participated in a broad selling wave on Thursday, with spot prices falling around 3% after suffering deeper losses earlier in the day on growing fears about the economic impact of the Iran war.

Volatility in the oil market has been affecting global investor sentiment since the beginning of the US and Israel’s war with Iran. On Friday, oil prices continued to fluctuate, last rising after falling in the early morning hours.

Global stock markets were mixed on Friday; Asian stocks were mostly down, while European stocks were struggling to find direction. US futures data pointed to a negative open on Wall Street after signaling a rebound after Thursday’s losing session.

Some of gold’s extreme volatility in recent weeks followed a long rally that lasted until the first U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, Arthur Parish, a metals and mining stock analyst at SP Angel, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday.

“That’s pretty much completely unraveled and has actually moved much lower,” he said. “A lot of this comes from unraveling momentum operations.”

Gold and silver have experienced record-breaking gains in 2025, rising 66% and 135% respectively for the year. However, 2026 saw much more volatile trading; Silver futures suffered the biggest single-day hit since the 1980s in late January.

Parish noted that during the gold bull run in 2025, “a lot of generalists, a lot of systematic hedge funds, but also a lot of retailers are coming into the space.”

“This money is not linked to long-term gold positioning,” he said. “Since the Ukraine-Russia war and the freeze on Russian assets, you’ve seen central banks hoarding gold. I think they took the first leg higher in this multi-year gold bull run, and then tourists and retail investors stepped in to capitalize on that momentum. Now they’re leaving the field, which is probably what’s needed for gold to take the next leg higher.”

Toni Meadows, chief investment officer at BRI Wealth Management, told CNBC that gold and silver prices depend on daily demand as well as a “surge of fear.”

“I don’t see this as a day-to-day hedge against every move in risk assets,” he said. “It is driven by long-term trends rather than short-term fear trading.”