The US dollar soared on Friday while oil prices pushed higher and gold reached a record peak as investors grappled with geopolitical tensions and potentially diverging interest rate paths between Europe and the United States.
The Oman crude for next June delivery was traded at $90.35 on Friday.
Crude prices were up around 3 percent. Worries that Iran might retaliate for an airstrike on its embassy in Damascus have hovered over markets.
The United States expects an attack by Iran against Israel but one that would not be big enough to draw Washington into war, a U.S. official said late on Thursday. Israel did not claim responsibility for the airstrike on April 1.
There are "concerns that there may be an attack on Israel by Iran," said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco.
"That has filtered into pushing gold higher, pushing safe-haven currencies higher ... Geopolitical risk has been driving a lot of the moves." Central bank outlooks were also in focus.
The European Central Bank on Thursday signaled it could start cutting rates, while hotter-than-expected inflation reading on Wednesday pushed back bets for the Federal Reserve's first cut until later in the year.
"In the near term it is going to be harder for the Fed to cut than for the European Central Bank," said Marcelo Carvalho, global head of economics at BNP Paribas. In currencies, the dollar index gained 0.73%.
Oil rose as tension in the Middle East raised the risk of supply disruptions. U.S. crude gained 3.02% to $87.59 a barrel and Brent rose to $92.12 per barrel, up 2.66% on the day. Spot gold added 1.77% to $2,415.15 an ounce.
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