Gold prices rose on Monday after the US and Israel launched major strikes on Iran that assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, escalating geopolitical tensions and deepening global economic uncertainty.

Spot gold was up 1.88 per cent at $5,376.44 an ounce, as of 06:32 GMT, after hitting its highest point in more than four weeks.

Earlier in the session, bullion prices had climbed as much as 2pc.

US gold futures rose 2.7pc to $5,389.20 per ounce.

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

“Unlike previous escalations in this conflict, there is fairly strong incentive here for both sides to continue to escalate potentially — and that runs the risk of leading to a pretty chaotic, uncertain, and, therefore, volatile environment for more than just a few days … the dynamic for gold is pretty positive,” said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.

However, the US dollar index rose 0.27pc, making gold more expensive for overseas buyers and capping the metal’s gains.

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

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

“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.

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

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

Spot silver added 1.3pc to $95 per ounce, after registering a monthly gain in February.

Spot platinum was up 0.8pc at $2,383.50 per ounce, while palladium advanced 2.3pc to $1,826.59.

Following an early crash and a temporary market halt, the KSE-100 benchmark index resumed trading, recovered slightly by midday, but plunged sharply by 16,089.17 points before closing.

As trading began Monday following a weekend marred by geopolitical instability, the market crashed by over 15,000 points, causing the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to halt trading.

According to Chief Executive Officer Topline Securities Mohammed Sohail, the “market overreacted initially amid selling by a few funds and leveraged players”.

As trading resumed around 10:30am, the index was down 12,334.88 points from its previous close of 168,062.16 points, marking a fall of 7.34 per cent.

Sohail added that after the halt, some buying was seen as investors realised the market had already fallen by 20 per cent from its recent peak and had attractive values.

By 11:07am, the market recovered more, with the index down 9,164.62 points, marking a fall of 5.45pc.

However, by closing the index hit 151,972.99 points, slightly above the intraday low of 151,747.96 points. This marks a 9.57pc decline from its previous close.

The top active stocks were led by K-Electric Limited, which fell 12.53pc to Rs6.70 on a volume of 163,349,544 shares, followed by Worldcall Telecom Limited, down 13.18pc to Rs1.12 with a volume of 82,602,451 shares, and First National Equities Limited, which declined 20.13pc to Rs1.23.

The sharp plunge comes as regional geopolitical tensions spiked over the weekend as the United States and Israel on Saturday launched what they described as a “pre-emptive” joint strike against Iranian targets, with US President Donald Trump announcing the start of “major combat operations”.

The tensions have caused Brent to jump 6.4pc to $77.57 a barrel by early Monday, though it had briefly topped $82.00 at one stage, while US crude climbed 6.2pc to $71.17 per barrel.

Safe-haven gold rose 1.6pc to $5,360 an ounce on Monday.

After an early crash followed by a market halt, the KSE-100 benchmark index resumed trading, recovering slightly by 11am but continuing to show signs of volatility.

As trading began Monday following a weekend marred by geopolitical instability, the market crashed by over 15,000 points, causing the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to halt trading.

According to Chief Executive Officer Topline Securities Mohammed Sohail, the “market overreacted initially amid selling by a few funds and leveraged players”.

As trading resumed around 10:30am, the index was down 12,334.88 points from its previous close of 168,062.16 points, marking a fall of 7.34 per cent.

Sohail added that after the halt, some buying was seen as investors realised the market had already fallen by 20 per cent from its recent peak and had attractive values.

By 11:07am, the market recovered more, with the index down 9,164.62 points, marking a fall of 5.45pc. However, by 1:13pm the market was trading in the red, down 15,711.19 points.

The top active stocks so far were led by K-Electric Limited, which fell 7.96pc to Rs7.05 on a volume of 93,339,778 shares, followed by Worldcall Telecom Limited, down 10.08pc to Rs1.16 with a volume of 60,661,095 shares, and The Bank of Punjab, which declined 10pc to Rs28.53.

Among the top gainers, Itanz Technologies Limited rose 10.02pc to Rs22.50, followed by Jubilee Spinning & Weaving Mills Ltd., up 10.02pc to Rs27.13, and Husein Industries Limited, which gained 9.88pc to Rs33.80.

On the losing side, LOADS Limited (Right) led the decliners, plunging 62.5pc to Rs0.15, followed by Trust Securities & Brokerage Limited (R), which dropped 48.72pc to Rs0.20, and Unicap Modaraba, down 21.12pc to Rs3.25.

The sharp plunge comes as regional geopolitical tensions spiked over the weekend as the United States and Israel on Saturday launched what they described as a “pre-emptive” joint strike against Iranian targets, with US President Donald Trump announcing the start of “major combat operations”.

The tensions have caused Brent to jump 6.4pc to $77.57 a barrel by early Monday, though it had briefly topped $82.00 at one stage, while US crude climbed 6.2pc to $71.17 per barrel.

Safe-haven gold rose 1.6pc to $5,360 an ounce on Monday.

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