The unexpected news that oil facilities had been attacked by drones in Saudi Arabia set in motion the previously consolidated crude oil price range. Quotations of "black gold" soared by 10% at the moment and although they partially rolled back down after that, prices are still kept at local maximums. A similar picture happened with the price of gold, whose quotes jumped up and held above the mark of 1,500 dollars per ounce. On this wave, the Japanese yen also received support and the yields on government bonds of the United States and other economically developed countries decreased. In addition, the price of the Canadian dollar rose sharply due to a sharp rise in oil prices.

In general, this incident led investors to clearly buy up defensive assets in addition to contracts for crude oil, again fearing a fire in the Middle East. However, such risks do exist. Whoever attacked the Saudis is not yet clear but most likely, Iran will be blamed for this. Against the background of constant accusations towards it, will be easy. It seems that the situation in this region is one step away from the military conflict, which of course, is in the hands of the United States. They have long wanted to pit Tehran and Riyadh together and hold a military campaign with Iran with the maximum use of local opponents of this country.

If the conflict continues to erupt, then we should expect continued growth in oil prices. At the same time, we should consider safe-haven assets, including gold, the Japanese yen, the Swiss franc and government bonds of economically developed countries.

Forecast of the day:

The USD/JPY pair has reduced almost half of its losses after a sharp drop in the wake of rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Now, a lot will depend on the reaction of Saudi Arabia. If this news gets a negative continuation, we should expect increased demand for defensive assets. In this case, the pair will resume its decline to 107.30 or even lower to 107.00 yen per US dollar.

The USD/CAD pair is trading above 1.3210 after the news from Saudi Arabia. The pair may resume decline in the wake of a likely increase in crude oil prices. If this happens and the pair falls below 1.3210, there is a high probability that it will continue to fall to 1.3135.