GOLD · ~$4,350–4,600/oz “A Hawkish Fed and a Reawakened War Are Pulling in Opposite Directions”

WHAT HAPPENED. Gold is holding a roughly $200 range built over the past five sessions, trading near $4,500 as of Monday, August 31. Having touched a three-month high near $4,700 in the week of August 24, the metal tumbled toward $4,515 on Friday, August 28 its worst session in six weeks after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s hawkish Jackson Hole debut. A fresh flare-up in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend has since added a competing safe-haven bid, but so far it has only kept gold inside its existing range rather than driving a fresh breakout.

WHY IT HAPPENED — PRIMARY DRIVER (A HAWKISH FED THAT WANTS A HIKE, NOT JUST A HOLD). Warsh used his first Jackson Hole address as Fed Chair to declare there would be “no misunderstanding” about the Fed’s 2% PCE target, arguing July’s PCE inflation at 3.7% headline and 3.3% core “are too high” and that the Fed still has “work to do.” The market response was immediate and specific: money markets now price roughly 57% odds of a 25-basis-point hike at the September 16 FOMC meeting a genuine hike, not merely a hold a sharp reversal from the dovish pricing that had dominated most of August.

SECONDARY DRIVER (HORMUZ TENSIONS FLARE AGAIN, BUT MODESTLY SO FAR). US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers near Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, August 30, ending a weeks-long lull in direct military action the first such strike in over a month. Iran responded with a barrage of ballistic and anti-ship cruise missiles fired from multiple locations toward the Strait, with some reports also citing missiles directed at US-linked positions in Jordan; Jordanian air defenses intercepted the bulk of the projectiles. Oil’s reaction has been contained rather than explosive WTI is finding support in the $80–81 zone with $85–86 confirming the “war premium is back on,” a far more measured move than the price spikes seen earlier in the conflict, as Washington’s broader strategy has recently leaned on economic sanctions rather than sustained military action.

SCENARIOS. Gold’s current five-session range gives a useful map: technicians flag a buy zone around $4,350–4,400, with $4,585 as the level that would need to break to justify adding exposure, and $4,222 as the stop-loss line where the setup would be invalidated. 

SILVER · ~$66–71/oz “Sliding Back Toward $66 as the Hawkish Fed Outweighs the War Premium”

WHAT HAPPENED. Silver smashed through $70 to reach $71.31 on Friday, August 28, before falling back to near $66.00 by Monday, August 31, pressured by Fed Chair Warsh’s hawkish tone. Silver remains up sharply for the year silver prices have been described as having more than doubled over the past twelve months but this week’s pullback shows the metal is trading more on the rate-path narrative than the geopolitical one for now.

WHY IT HAPPENED. Silver’s higher beta means it typically amplifies gold’s moves, and that has held true on the way down too: the same ~57% September hike pricing that has capped gold has hit silver even harder. Notably, silver also remained pressured by higher oil prices after Iran’s retaliatory barrage a reminder that for silver, an oil-driven growth scare can outweigh oil’s usual role as an inflation-hedge tailwind, given the metal’s heavy industrial-demand component.

INDUSTRIAL DEMAND & PHYSICAL DEFICIT. The multi-year physical deficit thesis remains structurally intact and continues to provide a longer-term floor, even as short-term price action is dominated by the Fed and Hormuz headlines. 

COPPER · ~$6.60–6.70/lb “Holding Near Record Levels While Precious Metals Wobble”

WHAT HAPPENED. Copper continued grinding higher into month-end, with LME three-month copper forwards reaching a new record above $14,360/tonne on Friday, August 28, even though the contract remains below its January 2026 record peak. US COMEX copper futures traded around $6.62–6.68/lb over the same session. Unlike gold, silver, and platinum, which have all wobbled on the Fed/Hormuz crosscurrents this week, copper has stayed resilient near its highs, underscoring that its rally is being driven by genuine physical tightness rather than the same safe-haven flows moving precious metals.

WHY IT HAPPENED — SUPPLY (PRIMARY DRIVER). The structural squeeze flagged through July and August China’s declining refined output, the DRC’s concentrate export ban, Codelco’s guidance cut, and the earlier El Teniente disruption remains fully in place, with no material easing reported over the past week. Analysts noted it may only be a matter of time before COMEX and LME prices reconverge from opposite directions, as the US tariff-driven premium and the genuine global supply tightness increasingly point the same way.

DEMAND (SECONDARY DRIVER). AI data-center and grid-electrification demand remain the unchanged structural driver, largely insulated from this week’s Fed and geopolitical volatility. 

PLATINUM · ~$1,820–1,895/oz “Pulling Back With the Complex After a Strong Run Into Jackson Hole”

WHAT HAPPENED. Platinum advanced alongside gold and silver ahead of Jackson Hole, rising to around $1,882–1,895/oz on Friday, August 28 up roughly 2.4% on the day. Since Warsh’s hawkish remarks and the softer tone across precious metals into Monday, platinum has likely given back some of that gain, consistent with the pullback in gold and the sharper one in silver.

SUPPLY RISK (PRIMARY DRIVER). The structural case is unchanged: the World Platinum Investment Council continues to project a fourth consecutive annual supply deficit for 2026, with constrained South African mine supply and elevated energy costs the persistent headwinds. That backdrop is now working firmly in platinum’s favour as the broader precious-metals rally provides the macro tailwind the deficit story had been missing for much of the summer.

DEMAND RISK & LONG-TERM CATALYST. The continued shift toward electric vehicles remains a cloud over the demand outlook even against the tight-supply backdrop, while China’s expanding hydrogen fuel-cell fleet remains the structural long-term catalyst. 

This report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. All prices are approximate and subject to market conditions. · Pan Asia Market Intelligence · 31 August 2026