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Gold surged to a new record high and the dollar weakened after US prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell, stoking concerns about the central bank’s independence.

The precious metal’s price climbed as much as 2 per cent to $4,600 a troy ounce for the first time during early trading in Asia on Monday, while the dollar weakened 0.2 per cent against a basket of key trading partners’ currencies.

Futures tracking US equities also declined, with those of the S&P 500 falling 0.6 per cent and the Nasdaq 100 shedding 1 per cent.

Richard Yetsenga, chief economist and head of research at ANZ, said the gold rally was due to investors looking for haven assets.

“The immediate market focus is likely to be on concerns regarding the administration’s influence over the Fed’s policy independence,” said Tai Hui, chief Asia-Pacific market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.

Powell on Sunday said the Fed had received grand jury subpoenas and a threat of criminal indictment from the justice department relating to his testimony before Congress about a $2.5bn renovation of the central bank’s headquarters.

It is the latest salvo from the Trump administration against the
Fed, which is under pressure to cut interest rates more aggressively despite lingering concerns over reigniting inflation.

Hui said the move was “likely to prompt further steepening of the US Treasury yield curve, with [short-term interest rates] coming down due to the possibility of more aggressive cuts, while long-term inflation concerns keep the long end above 4 per cent”.

Data on US Treasuries prices was unavailable because Japanese markets, the centre for US bond trading during Asian hours, were closed on Monday for a public holiday.

Most Asian stock markets rose on Monday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gaining 1.2 per cent and mainland China’s CSI 300 rising 0.6 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4 per cent.

The gold rally comes amid rising geopolitical uncertainty after US President Donald Trump said he was considering military operations in Iran over its crackdown on nationwide protests.

Bullion prices later pared gains to trade at $4,582, still higher than the previous record of $4,549 set at the end of 2025.