Spooked UK investors go for gold

GOLD is looking shinier than ever this week.

- by Katie Elliott

The precious metal smashed through the $5,000-per-ounce (around £3,700) mark on Monday, hitting a new high as investors scramble for safety amid rising global unease.It comes after a barrage of global drama in the first few weeks of 2026, from US efforts to capture Venezuela’s President and escalating tensions in Iran, to a brief NATO row sparked by Donald Trump’s demands over Greenland. Some of these tensions have cooled, but geopolitical instability is still very present.

For those managing pension pots, the question now is whether gold deserves a place in the portfolio. After all, it has been crowned the king of safe-haven assets over the last decade, and the figures are quite astonishing.