TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Gold and oil prices reportedly increased in line with the launching of a missile attack by Iran to the U.S. forces in Iraq. In Indonesia, Antam’s gold bar price reached almost Rp800,000 per gram.

The global gold price reportedly surged to US$1,600 an ounce after Iran launched the attack in retaliation for the death of its commander Qasem Soleimani. Bloomberg data showed that the price jumped by 2.4 percent to US$1,611.42 per troy ounce, which was the highest since 2013 and was trading at US$1,609.28 as of 8:32 a.m. of Singapore time.

On its website, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards announced it fired a series of missiles to the U.S.-Iraq joint force in Anbar Province, West Iraq, today morning, January 8, of Baghdad time.

The attack sparked concerns that the killing of Iran’s top general due to the U.S. drone attack on Friday last week would trigger widespread conflict in the Middle East that could disrupt global oil supplies.

Bloomberg reported that the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices jumped 4.4 percent to US$65.48 per barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange and rose 3.9 percent to US$65.13 per barrel in Wednesday's trade at 8:13 a.m. Singapore time.

Thus, the price of crude oil had risen about 6 percent since the U.S. airstrike that killed Soleimani last week.

Albeit oil supplies from the Middle East resume to flow, at least for now, the risk of supply disruptions has haunted the oil market over possible attacks on energy facilities. The market fears that oil prices would skyrocket uncontrollably.

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