Finance Brief: Oil slides as Gulf talks enter day three, and gold holds near 3,900 dollars
Finance Brief: Oil slides as Gulf talks enter day three, and gold holds near 3,900 dollars
Monday started calmer than Friday ended. Oil fell as diplomats talked, gold steadied after a rough week, and the question for the region is whether the relief lasts longer than the headlines.
US-Iran talks in Doha entered a third day, with Tehran reportedly proposing a two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude eased about 3 percent to around 110 dollars a barrel in Monday morning trade, with US crude near 101 dollars. That is a relief valve for importers, including Turkiye, but it sits on top of a risk premium that has not gone away: tankers were still being hit in the Gulf over the weekend.
Spot gold traded near 3,900 dollars an ounce on Monday morning, up about 1 percent from Friday's close near 3,876 dollars, after a 146-dollar fall on Friday. Silver recovered to near 50 dollars. The bounce looks more like stabilization than a new rally: gold is still down about 3 percent on the week and well below the levels above 5,000 dollars seen earlier this year.
In Kazakhstan, the money story is longer term. The 5 billion dollar Data Center Valley at Ekibastuz, built with Firebird and Nvidia, has 45,000 Blackwell processors licensed for its first phase and 215 megawatts already reserved. If the first 50-megawatt center opens in the second quarter of 2027 as planned, Kazakhstan starts selling computing power the way it once sold coal power.
Kyrgyzstan's Finance Ministry has raised its 2026 budget revenue forecast by 40 percent, according to AKIpress, a reminder that the region's treasuries are revising up even as global markets stay nervous.
Levels to watch: Brent holding below 110 dollars would confirm traders believe the Doha track; a new Gulf incident would send it back up fast. For gold, holding above 3,900 dollars would confirm the bounce is real. For Istanbul, which opens after a bruising Friday, the test is whether the calmer global mood survives the first hour of trade.
Information only, not financial advice.
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