GOLD rose for a fourth consecutive session on Monday, climbing as much as 2.2% to above $5,390 an ounce as the widening conflict in the Middle East drove investors towards haven assets.
The advance came after the US and Israel launched strikes across Iran at the weekend, killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Bloomberg News.
Tehran responded with waves of missiles aimed at targets in Israel and American military bases, as well as sites in Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. President Donald Trump said bombing would continue until US objectives were met, while Iran’s national security chief Ali Larijani ruled out negotiations.
Gold has now gained roughly a quarter this year, sustaining a rally underpinned by geopolitical uncertainty, persistent central-bank buying and a broad investor retreat from sovereign bonds and currencies. Bullion recorded its seventh straight monthly gain in February — the longest such run since 1973 — even before hostilities with Iran broke out, as Trump pursued an aggressive foreign policy that included seizing Venezuela’s then-president Nicolás Maduro and threatening to annex Greenland.
Franklin Templeton Institute analysts said bullion tends to benefit when market sentiment shifts to “risk-premium first, fundamentals later”, recommending selective gold exposure over broad equity positions.
Spot gold was up 1.6% at $5,365.23 an ounce by mid-afternoon Singapore time, having earlier retreated from a session high. Silver gained 0.6% to $94.35, platinum rose 1% and palladium advanced 2.5%.
The dollar strengthened 0.4% against a basket of currencies, typically a headwind for commodity prices, though precious metals advanced regardless. Oil surged by its most in four years before also paring gains.
