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Monday, March 02, 2026
What’s happening: Gold prices rose sharply this morning amid ongoing geopolitical concerns.
What happened: Over the weekend, the US and Israel conducted strikes on Iran, which resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile, strength in the US dollar limited the overall gains for gold this morning.
Why it matters: Israel launched another wave of strikes on Iran on Sunday, while Tehran responded with further missile attacks, a day after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed.
In retaliation, Iran announced attacks on neighbouring states, including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. Strikes by the US and Israel, and the retaliation by Iran, sent shockwaves across the financial markets, through sectors ranging from air travel to crude oil.
President Donald Trump said the attack on Iran was intended to contain the country’s missile program for eliminating threats to the US. Trump vowed to continue military strikes till all objectives are achieved.
Data released on Friday showed that producer prices in the US surged higher than expected, signalling an acceleration in inflation in coming months. US producer prices rose 0.5% in January after a 0.4% rise in December. The figure came in above market estimates of 0.3%.
Gold, which is considered a safe-haven asset, has already surged to multiple record highs this year due to continued economic and geopolitical concerns.
The yellow metal had jumped 64% in 2025, amid strong buying by central banks and prospects of monetary policy easing by the US Federal Reserve.
Strength in the US dollar weighed on gold prices, as a higher greenback makes metals more expensive for foreign currency holders. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, gained around 0.3% to 97.87 this morning.
Spot prices for gold rose 1.2% to trade at $5,338.42 an ounce this morning.
In other metals trading, silver rose 0.1% to $93.8995 an ounce and palladium climbed 0.9% to $1,806.57. Platinum bucked the trend, slipping 0.1% to $2,366.22.
What to watch: Investors will continue monitoring the ongoing tensions in Iran, which are expected to significantly impact gold price ahead.
Data on the US labour market, including jobless claims, ADP employment, and NFP, will also remain in focus this week.
Context: The AUD/USD forex pair fell this morning amid strength in the US dollar due to geopolitical concerns.
Details: The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran over the weekend, resulting in the death of the country’s Supreme Leader. Iran responded with retaliatory attacks. Higher geopolitical tensions impacted risk-sensitive currencies like the Australian dollar.
Meanwhile, data released this morning showed that the S&P Global Australia manufacturing PMI was revised downward to 51 in February from a preliminary reading of 51.5. This marked the weakest level in four months.
Australia’s Monthly Inflation Gauge declined 0.2% in February, compared to a 0.2% gain in the previous month. This was the first decline since last August 2025. Australia’s business inventories also fell 0.1% in the fourth quarter following a 0.8% decline in the previous period.
ANZ-Indeed Australian job ads climbed 3.2% in January, easing from a 5.2% surge in the previous month. Corporate profits in Australia surged 5.8% in the fourth quarter, up from the previous month’s 1.5% gain. The figure also came in more than market estimates of 3.6%.
Strength in the US dollar weighed on the AUD/USD forex pair. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, rose around 0.3% to 97.87 this morning.
The AUD/USD pair fell around 0.1% to 0.7108 this morning, while the S&P/ASX 200 lost almost 0.4% to reach 9,165.60.
What to watch: Investors await the release of data on building permits (0430 UAE Time), Current Account (0430 UAE Time) and Private House Approvals (0430 UAE Time) from Australia on Tuesday. The number of total dwellings approved in Australia, which dipped 14.9% to a four-month low of 15,542 units in December, is expected to jump 12% in January.
Analysts expect Australia’s current account deficit to widen to A$17.5 billion in the fourth quarter from A$16.6 billion in the third quarter. Private house approvals, which climbed 0.4% to 9,487 units in December, are expected to rise by 0.2% in January.
Other Markets: US trading indices closed lower on Friday, with the Dow Jones index, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 down by 1.05%, 0.43% and 0.30%, respectively.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the timing and location of the next round of negotiations between the US, Russia and Ukraine would depend on the situation in the Middle East. The news sent the USD/RUB pair higher in forex trading this morning.
Chile’s retail sales rose 3.7% year-over-year in January, easing from 4.4% growth in December. The latest reading signalling the slowest growth in nine months lent support to the USD/CLP forex pair.
Canada’s government budget surplus shrank to C$0.2 billion in December from C$1.0 billion in the year-ago period, which sent the USD/CAD pair higher in forex trading this morning.
Colombia’s unemployment rate climbed to 10.9% in January from 8.0% in the previous month, which lent support to the USD/COP forex pair.
South Korea’s trade surplus rose to a record $15.51 billion in February from $4.15 billion in the year-ago month. However, the USD/KRW forex pair rose in forex trading this morning.
Spain’s HCOB manufacturing PMI (1215 UAE Time), Italy’s HCOB manufacturing PMI (1245 UAE Time), full year GDP growth (1300 UAE Time) and government budget (1300 UAE Time), France’s HCOB manufacturing PMI Final (1250 UAE Time), Germany’s HCOB manufacturing PMI Final (1255 UAE Time), Eurozone’s HCOB manufacturing PMI (1300 UAE Time), South Africa’s ABSA manufacturing PMI (1300 UAE Time), UK’s consumer credit (1330 UAE Time), mortgage approvals (1330 UAE Time), mortgage lending (1330 UAE Time), M4 money supply (1330 UAE Time), net lending to individuals (1330 UAE Time) and S&P Global manufacturing PMI (1330 UAE Time), India’s industrial production (1430 UAE Time) and manufacturing production (1430 UAE Time), Mexico’s business confidence (1600 UAE Time) and S&P Global manufacturing PMI (1900 UAE Time), Brazil’s S&P Global manufacturing PMI (1700 UAE Time), Singapore’s SIPMM manufacturing PMI (1700 UAE Time), Canada’s S&P Global manufacturing PMI (1830 UAE Time) as well as US S&P Global manufacturing PMI (1845 UAE Time) and ISM manufacturing PMI (1900 UAE Time).
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