Gold surges over 1%, climbs above $5,300 as strikes on Iran rattle markets

Gold prices rose more than 1 per cent on Monday after the US and Israel launched major strikes on Iran, ​killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, escalating geopolitical tensions ​and deepening global economic uncertainty.

Spot gold was up 1.35 per cent at $5,348.49 an ‌ounce by 2316 GMT.

US gold futures rose 2.2 per cent to $5,362.30.

Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran on Sunday and Iran responded with more missile barrages, a day after the killing of Khamenei pitched the West Asia and the global economy into deepening uncertainty.

Bullion, a traditional safe-haven asset, has hit successive record highs already this year due to heightened global political and economic uncertainty.

 

"Gold is perhaps the finest barometer to reflect global uncertainty and, to mix metaphors, the mercury is rising. We should ‌expect gold to be repriced higher to fresh records as we enter a whole new era of geopolitical uncertainty," said independent analyst Ross Norman.

The latest rally builds on a 64 per cent surge in 2025, driven by strong central bank buying, robust inflows into exchange-traded funds and expectations of US monetary policy easing.

Last week, JP Morgan and Bank of America reiterated that gold prices ​could climb toward the key $6,000 level. J.P. Morgan noted that it forecasts enough demand from ‌central banks and investors this year to ultimately push prices to $6,300 an ounce by the end of 2026.

Data on Friday showed that US ​producer ‌prices rose more than expected in January, suggesting inflation could pick up in coming ‌months.

Investors will also watch a series of labour market readings this week, including the ADP employment report, weekly jobless claims and the non-farm payrolls ‌report.

Spot ​silver rose 1.21 per cent ​to $94.95 an ounce after registering a monthly gain in February.

Spot platinum climbed 0.31 per cent to $2,372 an ounce while palladium was down 0.35 per cent at $1,779.80 ‌an ounce.