The conflict in Ukraine triggers sharp moves in the prices of gold and palladium.

On Friday, gold prices slid 1% and palladium also dropped as Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused sharp swings in the precious market.

The price of spot gold decreased by 1% to $1,884.69 per ounce at 12:07 p.m. ET (1707 GMT), fluctuating between gains and losses throughout the session. Meanwhile, U.S. gold futures fell more than 2% to $1,888.40.

Daniel Briesemann, a Commerzbank analyst, stated that the price drop is premature, there is a risk of further escalation in the conflict, and it could be just a temporary correction.

Briesemann stated that there may be expectations among market participants that the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia are not stringent enough. As a result, the price of gold increased by more than 3% to a high of $1,973.96 in the previous session following Russia's attack on Ukraine. However, gold prices have since decreased by more than $90 from their highs on Thursday.

David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures, stated that the fall was as dramatic as the rise, and it was technically motivated.

The global shares markets' rebound and the expectation of continued market volatility negatively impacted the demand for the safe-haven metal, according to Xaio Fu, head of commodities markets strategy at Bank of China International.

Palladium fell 1.9% to $2,355.81, despite reaching a high of $2,711.18 on Thursday, its highest since July last year.

According to Carlo Alberto De Casa, external market analyst at Kinesis, Palladium is the most exposed precious metal to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The possibility of a supply shortage and higher prices for palladium arises due to the likelihood of stricter sanctions on Russia, the world's largest producer of the metal, according to De Casa.

The price of spot silver decreased by 1.2% to $23.90 per ounce, while platinum experienced a 0.4% decline to $1,053.02.