Gold and gold mining funds have fallen sharply in the weeks since the conflict in Iran began on February 28.
After surging in 2025, the price of gold hit an all-time high of $5589 per ounce in late January on the back of central bank purchasing and strong investor demand.
Gold was also benefitting from market expectations for rate cuts and an ongoing trend of investor diversification away from the US dollar.
But despite being hailed as a reliable safe haven asset for investors, gold has ironically taken the hardest hit since the Iran war began.
A strengthening US dollar, rising bond yields and a flight to liquidity have all put downward pressure on the price gold.
This has meant that most of the worst performers since the Iran conflict started are gold-related strategies, according to data from FE fundinfo. Below are 20 of the worst performing funds since February 28th.
| Fund | Performance since 28/2/26 (%) |
| Amundi Global Gold Mines | -30.69 |
| VanEck Junior Gold Miners UCITS ETF | -30.49 |
| Mitsubishi Japan Equity Small & Mid cap | -30.33 |
| Jupiter Gold And Silver | -29.72 |
| UBS Solactive US Listed Gold & Silver Miners UCITS ETF | -29.55 |
| Edmond de Rothschild GoldSphere | -29.03 |
| BAKERSTEEL GLOBAL Precious Metals | -28.97 |
| VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF | -28.41 |
| Ninety One Global Gold | -28.36 |
| Franklin Gold and Precious Metals | -26.75 |
| L&G Gold Mining UCITS ETF | -26.27 |
| UOB United Gold & General | -26.2 |
| DWS Invest Gold & Precious Metals Equities | -25.85 |
| VanEck Gold Miners UCITS ETF | -25.84 |
| UBS Silver ETF | -25.24 |
| Schroder ISF Global Gold | -25.05 |
| iShares Gold Producers UCITS ETF | -24.95 |
| BlackRock GF World Gold | -24.81 |
| WisdomTree Physical Silver | -24.68 |
| UBS Palladium ETF | -23.5 |
Gold strategies make up most of the funds above, except for a Japanese small cap fund, a real assets fund, a palladium ETF and a silver ETF.
Many of these gold funds prior to the correction had more than tripled in value over a three year period, as previously reported.
However, as the price of gold pairs back most of its year-to-date gains, gold mining stocks have been subject to even more volatile price swings.
The energy supply shock caused by the Iran conflict may directly hit the cost of production for many gold miners relying on oil for their operations.
As such, gold miners could be subject to a double blow to their profits on the back of a lower price of gold and a higher cost of production.
The FTSE Gold Mines index, which tracks the performance of major global gold mining companies, has entered into correction territory, having sold off 25% from its highs.
However, over the past twelve months, it is still outpacing the gains of the S&P 500 index, up 99.3% compared to 13.3% from the widely tracked US equity benchmark index.
