Samvat 2079: Gold and silver sparkle; crude oil on slippery slope

On the energy front, Samvat 2078 was a bull year as the war between Russia and Ukraine altered trade routes and supply equations resulted in a 12.5 per cent jump in the price of Brent crude last year

Samvat 2079 is ending on a high note for investors in precious metals with a 20 per cent rally in gold and silver during the last one year, following the geopolitical tension and depreciation in the rupee against major currencies.

However, it was a dull year for industrial commodities such as crude oil and base metals like copper, aluminium and zinc. Among industrial metals, zinc prices continued to fall.
 

In Samvat 2078, zinc prices at London Metal Exchange (LME) were down 11.3 per cent and the trend continued in Samvat 2079 — prices fell 13.3 per cent in the last one