2020.01.0309:28:00UTC+00Gold Prices Climb As Geopolitical Tensions Escalate

Gold prices rose more than 1 percent on Friday to hit a four-month high as rising tensions in the Middle East drove investors away from risky assets.

A weaker dollar along with some technical buying also offered some support to the precious metal.

Spot gold climbed 1.2 percent to $1,547.25, while U.S. gold futures were up as much as 1.4 percent at $1,549.75 per ounce.

Spot gold prices were up more than 2 percent for the week, heading for a fourth consecutive weekly increase.

A U.S. airstrike killed top Iranian military personnel, Qassem Soleimani, denting demand for riskier assets.

The U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement that it had killed the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Forces in an airstrike.

The Department of Defense said Soleimani was behind the recent attacks on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and said the "strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans."

Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there would be "revenge" for Soleimani's death.