[MARKET ANALYSIS] Crude on the backfoot as attention returns to Ukraine, XAU at another ATH

Crude curtailed by a pickup in the USD and after the geopolitical remarks re. Ukraine on Tuesday.
US Envoy Witkoff, on Tuesday, said that discussions with Russian counterpart Dmitriev were "very positive". A remark that seemingly sparked a bout of pressure in Crude, causing the benchmarks to drift into the early APAC session before stabilising and then dipping once again to troughs of USD 59.22/bbl and USD 63.61/bbl for WTI and Brent, respectively.
Currently, the complex holds around USD 0.60/bbl off those lows, but remains in the red by around USD 0.50/bbl on the session.
Ahead, we await any geopolitical update from Davos with POTUS in attendance.
A familiar story for spot gold, at another ATH of USD 4888/oz. The narrative for the yellow metal is much the same as in recent sessions.
Base peers in the green, 3M LME Copper firmer by over 1%. Action spurred by the stabilisation of the risk tone seen in some regions overnight and amid gains in China, though the region's strength lacked a specific fundamental driver.