By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was up on Thursday morning in Asia. The U.S. currency remained unchanged as the dollar was up and yields remained near multi-year peaks, offsetting support from an escalation in the Ukraine war.

Gold futures edged up 0.17% to $1,940.50 by 12:54 PM ET (4:54 AM GMT). The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, edged up on Thursday. The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield remained near Wednesday's peak, the highest since May 2019.

U.S. President Joe Biden could announce further sanctions on Russia later in the day, in response to the latter's invasion of Ukraine one month ago on Feb. 24.

Also contributing to high prices and volatility in the oil market, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that he could switch certain gas sales to roubles. The move sent European futures soaring, as concerns rose of an exacerbated energy crunch that could impact deals that amount to hundreds of millions of dollars every day.

In Asia Pacific, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) released the minutes from its latest policy meeting earlier in the day. The minutes showed that policymakers agreed that consumer inflation could overshoot expectations if companies pass on rising costs quicker than forecast.

BOJ’s insistence on a more dovish tone contrasted with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s more aggressive approach. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said both a 50 basis-point interest-rate hike and a decision to begin asset tapering could be warranted at the next Fed policy meeting, while Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said she supported front-loading rate increases in 2022.

Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust (P:GLD) rose 0.4% to 1,087.66 tons on Wednesday, its highest since Feb. 26, 2021.

In other precious metals, palladium rose 1.5% and silver inched up 0.1%, while platinum was down 0.3%.

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