Oil, gold soar as Vladimir Putin orders forces to regions of Ukraine

Oil and gold led a broad rally in commodities after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he’s recognising two self-proclaimed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine and plans to send “peacekeeping forces” to the region in a dramatic escalation of the conflict.

West Texas Intermediate crude climbed around 3 per cent from Friday, after not closing Monday due to a US holiday, while gold touched an eight-month high.

There were no details on how many Russian troops might go in, or when. Moscow has previously accused Ukraine of having a significant deployment of its own soldiers on the line of contact with the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk.