By Ashitha Shivaprasad
March 2 (Reuters) – Gold prices rose more than 1% on Monday after the U.S. 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% at $5,348.49 an ounce by 2316 GMT.
U.S. gold futures rose 2.2% 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 Middle East 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% surge in 2025, driven by strong central bank buying, robust inflows into exchange-traded funds and expectations of U.S. monetary policy easing.
Last week, J.P. 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 U.S. producer prices rose more than expected in January, suggesting inflation could pick up in coming months.
Investors will also watch a series of labor market readings this week, including the ADP employment report, weekly jobless claims and the non-farm payrolls report.
Spot silver rose 1.21% to $94.95 an ounce after registering a monthly gain in February.
Spot platinum climbed 0.31% to $2,372 an ounce while palladium was down 0.35% at $1,779.80 an ounce.
(Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad and Kavya Balaraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid, Jamie Freed and Sonali Paul)
