Oil prices surge after Iranian attack on US bases

International oil prices surged by an average of about 3 dollars a barrel this Wednesday, boosted by Iran's missile attack on US military bases in Iraq.

The price of US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), shot up by 2.77 dollars compared to the value at which it had closed the day a few hours earlier, after it was reported that Iran had launched a series of missiles against the Ain Al-Asad and Erbil airbases in Iraq.

WTI had ended the regular trading session with a drop of 57 cents to 62.70 dollars a barrel, but after the news of the attacks it reached a price of up to 65.47 dollars.

In the regular trading session, North Sea Brent Crude prices fell 64 cents to 68.27 dollars. Mexican crude followed the previous trend and fell 74 cents to 58.61 dollars. However, once the attacks were reported, there was a surge in risk assets sales, as investors turned to what were considered safe havens, such as gold, which after the close of operations rose 1.91 percent to 1,603.93 dollars an ounce.

Oil and gold are considered safe assets in times of political tension.



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