Gold rates in India climbed sharply on March 1, after a new escalation in geopolitics in Middle East. The US-Israel duo has launched a series of airstrikes on Iran and its leaders. The latest news is that Iranian supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei was killed. Khamenei has ruled Iran from 1989 to 2026. On Sunday, 24 carat, 22 carat and 18 carat gold prices surged by Rs 328 to as high as Rs 43,700 across grams. On the other hand, silver prices in India were flat and stood at around Rs 2.95 lakh per 1Kg. The price of 10 grams gold of 24 carat crossed Rs 1.73 lakh mark.

Last week, spot gold price surged by 1% to end around $5,220 on Friday, which is near its 2-months high. Notably, MCX gold price closed around Rs 1,61,971 per 10 grams and MCX silver price stood at Rs 2,74,389 per 1kg. Both were down on Friday.

Investors weight aggressive US trade policy against sticky inflation data. Bullion remains supported by safe-haven demand after the administration invoked Section 122 to implement 10% global tariffs, with Trade Representative Jamieson Greer signaling a potential hike to 15% following the recent Supreme Court ruling. This protectionist shift, coupled with stalled US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva and reports of a US Embassy departure advisory in Israel, has supercharged gold's appeal as a systemic hedge, as per Trading Economics.

Credit: Goodreturns