Brent Crude Surges Toward $100 as Geopolitical Risk Intensifies

Oil prices moved higher as concerns grew that the conflict in the Middle East could drag on, with Brent rising 0.9% to $97.24 and WTI gaining 0.9% as well to $92.36.

In Asia, markets mostly advanced today, with Japan‘s Nikkei rising nearly 2% and South Korea’s Kospi jumping 3.6%.

Gold remains under pressure for a second straight session but is holding above $4,400, with traders cautious ahead of key US inflation data later this week. The stronger-than-expected August NFP report, which showed 162K jobs added versus 56K expected, strengthened expectations for a more hawkish Fed and supported the US dollar.

However, Wallers recent dovish comments and upcoming CPI and PPI data could limit further dollar gains and provide support for gold. Meanwhile, higher oil prices are fueling inflation concerns and weighing on gold through higher rate expectations.

The bullish case for gold remains strong as central banks, led by China and Poland, continued to accumulate gold in July, providing ongoing structural support despite a slower pace of purchases compared with last year.

In the crypto market, bitcoin is facing resistance around the $80,000 level and Ethereum is trading under $4,500. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin rejected predictions that AI could compromise Bitcoin‘s security and cause its price to fall more than 50% within two years. He argued that most AI-driven threats would likely target software, wallets, mining infrastructure or network systems rather than Bitcoin’s underlying cryptography and proof-of-work mechanism.