LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Gold's appeal as it draws support from the widening conflict in the Middle East is expected to ​remain intact even if some investors have favoured the dollar as their preferred safe haven, traders and analysts said.

New progress was made at Aya Gold & Silver’s Boumadine project in Morocco: a new parallel mineralized structure was identified within the project area, and drilling returned high-grade intervals (with silver equivalent up to 337 g/mt). To date, the project completed 28,900 meters of drilling this year, with 10 drill rigs currently operating continuously; an additional two rigs are expected to be added in March to accelerate resource growth and preparations for bringing the project into production.

Influenced by the Iran incident, gold prices gapped up at the opening of the Asian market yesterday (2nd), according to a report from HSBC Global Research. It is believed that rising oil prices pushed up gold prices, with the premium on the Shanghai Gold Exchange turning positive and reaching USD10 per ounce.

[SMM Morning Meeting Minutes: Macro Sentiment-Driven, LME Zinc Center Shifts Lower] Overnight, LME zinc posted a large bearish candlestick, with the upper Bollinger Bands midline forming resistance and the lower 60-day moving average providing support. The Middle East conflict escalated, the US dollar strengthened, oil prices hit a new high since July of the year before last, inflation expectations rose, and the US Fed......

SMM reported on March 5 that this week, total inventory across the two major stainless steel markets of Wuxi and Foshan showed a slight upward trend, rising from 1.0161 million mt on February 26, 2026 to 1.0164 million mt on March 5, 2026, up 0.3% WoW. This week, stainless steel social inventory increased slightly, remaining at a high level above 1 million mt. The market had entered the traditional peak consumption season of “Golden March and Silver April.” Although downstream end-users had gradually resumed work and production, the pace of actual demand release was slow, and the strength of the recovery still needed to be verified. SS futures lacked momentum for further upside and fluctuated within the week, making it difficult for spot prices to improve. Wait-and-see sentiment strengthened, and overall confidence pulled back compared with the previous period. Supply side, stainless steel mills’ expected planned production for March had increased significantly, and supply pressure was gradually emerging. Although supply and demand had yet to achieve a good match and the effectiveness of social inventory drawdown remained uncertain, stainless steel currently had strong cost support. Nickel ore-related news continued to ferment and provided a floor, while steel mills were proactive in maintaining prices and boosting shipments, fully aligning with procurement demand after downstream resumption of work, effectively curbing further inventory buildup. Overall, this week’s inventory trend was mainly driven by factors including a slower-than-expected downstream recovery, increased supply expectations, a pullback in market confidence, and steel mills’ active shipments. Although there was still a short-term risk of inventory buildup, supported by strong cost-side support and steel mills’ proactive adjustments, stainless steel social inventory was expected to remain broadly stable. Whether inventories can be effectively drawn down going forward will still hinge on the actual pace of downstream demand recovery.

Platinum prices stopped falling and rebounded, with the most-traded PT2606 platinum futures contract on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange up 1.34% in early trading, closing at 567.9 yuan/gram. In the spot market, spot platinum prices against PT2606 were quoted at discounts of 10-13 yuan/gram, or at discounts of 1-4 yuan/gram against the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s Sell 1. Spot discounts widened slightly from the previous trading day. As for spot transactions, according to SMM, some traders holding cargo said that quotes at around a 10 yuan/gram discount to the June contract were difficult to conclude, and discounts needed to be lowered to above 12 yuan/gram. End-users made just-in-time procurement, and the spot market was still dominated by small-lot transactions, with overall trading normal.

Gold and silver prices are expected to begin the week on a strong note when trading resumes on Monday, as escalating tensions in the Middle East push investors toward safe-haven assets, analysts said.

SEBI announced two mutual fund reforms on February 26. First, actively managed equity funds can now allocate up to 35% of assets to gold, silver instruments, and InvITs. This expands India's $384 billion fund market and creates new institutional demand for precious metals. Second, SEBI approved life cycle funds for retirement planning with 5-30 year maturities. Each asset manager can run up to six such funds, competing with the government's $177 billion National Pension System. These reforms mark a breakthrough in product innovation and will boost precious metals allocation in institutional portfolios.

[SMM Lead Morning Meeting Minutes: Bullish and Bearish Factors Coexisted in Domestic and Overseas Markets; Lead Prices Were Expected to Remain Consolidated] US Treasury Secretary Bessent: A 15% global tariff might be implemented this week, pledged to safeguard the Persian Gulf, and hinted that more measures were forthcoming. Recently, lead-acid battery enterprises in the domestic market basically resumed production, and the overall operating rate in March rebounded sharply from February…

Feb 25 (Reuters) - JP Morgan raised its long-term forecast for gold prices to $4,500 an ounce on Wednesday while keeping its 2026 year-end forecast at $6,300.