Gold falls into a bear market while analysts fear oil prices could rise significantly

The Australian share market has ended the week higher. The S&P/ASX 200 index gained 1.6 per cent to 8,731 points. The week has been dominated by ongoing peace negtotiations in the Middle East and fresh inflation data that has largely cemented the market views that the Reserve Bank will keep interest rates on hold in June. Over the last five days, the index has gained 0.86 per cent, but is virtually unchanged year to date. The benchmark index is down 5 per crnt from its record high in late February. The price of gold has also fallen into a bear market. The yellow metal reached a record high of $US5,597 an ounce on January 29. Today the price of gold is hovering around $US4,500 an ounce, which is down 20 per cent from its record. An asset is said to fall into a "bear market" after a fall of 20 per cent or more. It's worth noting that the price of gold has risen 70 per cent since July 2025. "That's just an astonishing run for any asset, to be frank," nabtrade Director Gemma Dale said. Part of that increase in the gold price related to fears inflation would spike across the globe. Gold is considered a hedge, or protection, against inflation for investors. It is why the precious metal has performed so well over the past 12 months. But it's demise, Gemma Dale said, does not signal the fight against inflation has been won. "So it's not that the inflation problem, let's call it, has gone away." #ABCBusiness Subscribe: http://ab.co/1svxLVE Note: In most cases, our captions are auto-generated. #ABCNEWS #ABCNEWSAustralia